44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 19, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, the pearl-clutching.
If the members on the other side had not moved concurrence, maybe we could have been debating this last night. However, they used procedural games to avoid debate, and here we are happy to take questions on a very important matter.
I would also take issue with the fact that the Supreme Court, in its opinion, did a slam dunk or that a fulsome 100% judgment was rendered from the other side. It did not. It actually gave a very thoughtful opinion on where the federal government and the provincial governments should work together on matters of jurisdiction.
I can say that we took it, as we should, very seriously and will be looking at amendments we can making in order to make sure it complies with the rendering that came from the Supreme Court last week.
142 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I do not want to enter into the psychology of the Conservative Party. Therefore, I thank the hon. member for the question, but I will refuse the attempt.
Let me just say this. I would like to comment on his last point, if I could, as that is really what is at the heart of what we are proposing to do here.
Energy workers, oil and gas workers, should not just have a seat at the table, but should be leading that table. The problem is that for far too long concurrent governments, and I would argue ours, have left them out of the debate. They need to not just be a part of that debate, but to lead it.
I have skin in the game. My constituents are oil and gas workers. We have built a very proud offshore industry off the coast of Newfoundland. When they hear talk about change, tumult, and things that are exaggerated on social media like there is some master plan that is being made up in some star chamber, they get nervous necessarily. What we are saying with this legislation is that we are putting them at the table as decisions are made to best prepare them for a future that is happening now.
213 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, let me speak to the hon. member's mentioning of the phrase “just transition.” There is a very simple reason why I do not like using “just transition” and it is because workers hate the phrase “just transition”.
I do recognize that the International Labour Organization created it. I understand that it did come from the labour movement. However, it does not speak to the people who I represent, and it does not speak to the people who work in the oil and gas industry or the energy industry as a whole. It does not speak to them.
We need these workers onside. We need them to lower emissions in the oil and gas industry because they are the only ones who know how to do it. We need them to build the renewables because they are the only ones who know how to do it. There may be certain phrases that get in the way of them doing that work or continuing to work in that industry, and building those things and doing those things is way more important to me than complying with the conjecture or the phraseology of Geneva.
200 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, this is very much a process, and process can be incredibly important.
I do not want to presuppose what workers are going to say about how they want to get this done. I have talked to a lot of oil and gas workers, both in my constituency and in my time as natural resources minister. Even through COVID, I still spent a lot of time talking to oil and gas workers in Alberta and Saskatchewan, even if it was by Zoom. They all said the same thing. There was a great nervousness about plans being made and them not being at the table.
I made it very clear that, with this legislation, the whole point of the bill is to make sure that they are at the table, to make sure that they can lead the table, and that we are working with them to make sure that the training opportunities are there for them to avail themselves of all sorts of things. There is carbon capture sequestration, for instance, within the oil and gas industry, even on pipelines themselves. It is so important that we know where and when to tighten the nuts and bolts on a pipeline to make sure the methane does not leak. These are all very important things.
These are the only people who know how to do this work. Consecutive governments have spent too much time putting them in the margins of this debate, putting them in the margins of the hard work that needs to be done when they have to be at the centre of it because they are the only ones who know how to do it.
278 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, when I look at the other side, I am looking at the kings of red tape when it comes to energy production. One of the first things I was so happy to do was with respect to exploratory well environmental assessments on our offshore, off Newfoundland. The assessments were at 300 days per exploratory well until the Conservatives got in power and somehow magically found a way to triple that time to 900 days to make an exploratory well, which is a simple drill that goes into the sea bed to see if there is oil there. They put it in the same category as Hibernia and as Hebron, both full platforms. The Conservatives did not even get time to amend it. Maybe they did not care.
We did not want mistakes like that. One of the best parts of the much-maligned Environmental Assessment Agency is that it is able to do regional assessments. We were able to do one for the Newfoundland offshore, and we were able to reduce that time, as a result of looking at the entire basin, from the Conservatives' 900 days to our 90 days, as it should be.
That is because we paid attention to what people are doing on the ground, and it is one of those few occasions where, in 90 days instead of 900 days, we increased environmental oversight because we were looking at the entire basin and not just one item after another after another, consecutive duplicative red tape that the Conservatives managed to put in the way of our offshore.
264 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I would say to the hon. member, “Believe it.” I am a lot less interested in using phraseology that appeals to Geneva or others, and there has been some consistency in phrases that the member likes or perhaps some union leadership likes. I am interested in the membership of the those unions. I am interested in talking to the people who do that work.
If the member talks to the people who represent them, they will acknowledge that, when we talk among ourselves, we say “just transition” just so we know what we are talking about. What are we talking about? We are talking about training workers for opportunities in the future. That is really all it is. It is a nice way to say it.
They can call it whatever they like. At the end of the day, what we are saying here is that we are listening to the workers themselves. We are using words that they would prefer to use, and we actually prefer using fewer words and doing more things. That is what this is about: making people feel included, and not just any people but the people who will actually do the work of lowering emissions.
The point is not the phraseology. I do not care about that. What matters is that workers are given the dignity for the work that they do, for what they have done, for what they have built, what they are building and what they are about to build for all of us.
259 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, Bea Bruske, the president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said that this would be a big win for workers and that workers have raised their voices and helped to make the sustainable jobs act a reality. We did not just come up with writing this off at committees. These are things we developed after a great deal of consultation with workers themselves, so these are the mechanisms that would give them a voice. They would be legislated through this place and have the authority of this place. The legislation would carry the weight of not just what is in here, but of the House saying to workers, firmly, that they are in charge of this and we are going to figure this out together.
126 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, time is of the essence here. The Inflation Reduction Act has passed in the United States. It is perhaps the single greatest industrial policy, and probably the single greatest piece of legislation, that has been passed in any democracy in the world on the issue of energy transition. We have to move, and the way in which we move will determine whether how we move is sustainable and competitive in drawing investment, and we want to do it right. We want to do it with workers on side.
On the issue of time allocations, members can please tell me what in the bill is so bad about including workers in decisions. Members can tell me if there are larger issues that are unresolved, as there are in the House on issues of energy transition, but on the issue of whether workers should have a role here, let us get to work.
153 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, Bea Bruske, the president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said that workers have raised their voices and have helped make the sustainable jobs act a reality, and that Canada's unions are proud to work with the government to develop legislation that focuses on workers. The International Union of Operating Engineers said that the act “puts the interests of energy workers at the forefront of a low-carbon economy.” The international vice president of the IBEW said that this act shows the government's “commitment to protecting good-paying, highly skilled jobs.” Canada's Building Trades Unions welcomes the bill, saying that the consultation built into this process would “ensure workers are front and centre during this transition.”
If there are issues with the people they elect, then you can take it up with them. However, to say that somehow these people who are there, whom these workers elect, are elites is to put us into question. What are we? Are we elites?
171 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I remember when the Atlantic accord came about. It came about because of the good work of prime ministers like Brian Mulroney, excellent politicians like Pat Carney and, of course, the indomitable John Crosbie. One of the things that the Atlantic accord fundamentally does is acknowledge the jurisdictions of the provinces and the federal government. It clearly lays out a stable regime to attract investment, and it worked.
We created, in the past 25 or 30 years, an offshore industry in my province that is now responsible for the majority of its revenue. This is so important. The Atlantic accord is held up with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is a document of prosperity where I come from. Now, we want to move the same regime that respects the jurisdictions of the provinces and of the federal government, rightly, and we want to apply it to an industry that is already attracting billions of dollars for offshore wind and hydrogen.
The same workers who work proudly in our oil and gas industry in the Newfoundland offshore are moving to these jobs as well. It is an extraordinary opportunity. Why would one be against it?
198 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I do not find anything particularly paternalistic about this government's or any government's talking directly to workers, and I do not need anybody to tell me that I cannot do that. I also do not find it necessarily duplicative because some other government had spoken to them as well. We need to speak to them. More importantly, we need to listen to them, I think.
I think that the important thing about this is that it also builds on an important policy coming out of NRCan about regional tables, because this country is big. It is different. Our politics and our economies are different. We come together in this place to find commonalities, but at the end of the day, we have to embrace those differences. My province and its use of energy, its development and production of energy, are very different from Quebec's and, in some ways, they are very similar on issues of hydroelectricity. However, on issues of oil and gas, and right now at least on issues of hydrogen and issues of offshore, my province is very different. We have to take into account particular views of each part of the country in order for each part not only to be acknowledged but also to prosper.
214 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, it is a huge competitive advantage to make sure not only that workers are at the table but also that they are helping us lead these decisions. That in itself is a competitive advantage. It is a competitive advantage when we put in place the mechanisms to make sure that they do have that voice, that it is heeded and that they lead. We do not have all the answers in this place. The heads of the companies do not have all the answers, by any means. I would argue, and they have told me this, that not all the heads of the union leadership have the skills necessary to do what we are talking about. We are talking about the workers on the ground. It is a competitive advantage as we look at some of the phenomenal things that are happening in the United States and particularly with this president and the Inflation Reduction Act, but I think this, at the heart of it, is our competitive advantage in this country: putting workers at the centre.
179 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity, with this legislation, to make sure workers are at the centre of the most important decisions in the biggest challenges facing this country today.
30 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/19/23 2:47:22 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we have made significant progress to help seniors since 2015 and these efforts have reduced poverty for seniors over 65. The facts are that the GIS increase helped lift 45,000 seniors out of poverty. Restoring the age of retirement back to 65 prevented 100,000 seniors from falling into severe poverty, against the wishes of the other side, I should say. These benefits are automatically adjusted to keep up with the cost of living and they will never go down.
83 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
