44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 11, 2024 10:00AM
- Apr/11/24 2:41:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, but do not take my word for it.
Heather from Newbury writes, “People need the cost of living brought under control now.” Carol from Strathroy says, “One more tax will take us down. We're already struggling.” To the average Canadian, the cost of the carbon tax on gas, groceries, home heating, farmers and families is punishing, not progress.
Will the Prime Minister axe the tax on farmers and help make food cheaper by passing Bill C-234 in its original form?
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- Apr/11/24 2:43:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, even the NDP-Liberal environment chair admitted that the carbon tax has no impact on climate change, yet just last week, the Prime Minister increased the carbon tax by 23%, driving up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. If farmers cannot afford to grow food, the government has failed. Let me remind everyone that if there are no farms, there is no food.
Will the Prime Minister help bring the cost of food down for Canadians, axe the tax on farmers and pass Bill C-234 in its original form?
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- Apr/11/24 2:57:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, Canadians are struggling to make ends meet due to the Liberal-NDP's crippling carbon taxes. They are all economic pain and no environmental gain. Just last week, the Prime Minister increased the carbon tax by 23%, further driving up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating.
The least the Liberals could do is take the carbon tax off the farmers who feed us, which would in turn lower the cost of food.
Will the Prime Minister axe the tax on farmers and make food cheaper for Canadians by passing Bill C-234 in its original form?
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- Apr/11/24 3:30:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what is malarkey is the fact that the government thinks it knows best and that it should be able to turn off the taps to oil and gas in this country.
What I do not understand is the fact that in the eighties, when the federal government decided to shut down the Atlantic fisheries and do that transition, those workers came right to my home province of Alberta. We welcomed them with open arms. The fact that the minister now wants to shut down those jobs is absolutely shameful.
What does he say to the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who came to Fort McMurray to work in the oil sands in the eighties when the Liberal government shut down the fisheries?
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- Apr/11/24 3:33:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my family has called Fort McMurray home for over 50 years. My dad’s family moved to Fort McMurray in the 1970s to make a better life for themselves, and shortly after moving to Fort McMurray, my grandfather got a job at a place called Syncrude, working to build the extraction plant in anticipation of first oil. My dad, Gord, proudly worked at Syncrude, securing Canada’s energy future, for 42 years. He started in 1978 right after graduation and right before first oil, and he stayed until his retirement. He had three careers within that time: first as a machinist, as a process operator, and, finally, he found his passion in operations integrity and safety.
I eventually followed in my dad’s footsteps. Through university, I took summer student jobs at Syncrude, learning about extraction, maintenance, health and safety, governance, oil sands and so much more. After university, I started working at North American Construction Group in the mining division within the health and safety department. It was such a wonderful experience. I was able to work on so many different job sites throughout the region, wearing steel-toed boots and having dirty fingernails. I absolutely loved my time there.
I had a first-hand opportunity to see how seriously this industry took health and safety, environmental responsibilities and to see the role it played in not only Fort McMurray's and Alberta's economy but also the Canadian economy. I had the opportunity to meet thousands of hard-working, wonderful people from all across Canada and the world who decided to come to my hometown, to make it their hometown, to work in the oil sands and to make a better life for their families.
My community and the industry that drives it have been a beacon of hope for so many people for so long. In the eighties and the nineties, thousands of Atlantic Canadians flocked to Fort McMurray after the coal mines were shut down in Cape Breton and after the fisheries collapsed. Thousands of people came. They became my friends, my family and my neighbours. They are some of the most amazing people. However, they came to Fort McMurray not by choice, but because some government thought it knew best.
Now, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, my community is struggling. Eco-radicals now sit around a cabinet table and advocate against Canada’s world-class energy industry at every turn. They have made no attempt to even hide their distaste for oil and gas. The Prime Minister has stated on three separate occasions now that there is no business case for Canadian LNG. That is shameful.
The anti-energy agenda of the government has been consistent and punishing over the last eight years: anti-energy messaging, delays, arbitrary and inconsistent regulatory conditions and, frankly, an outright veto of approved export pipelines. It has pushed forward with anti-energy legislation at every turn, including the “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69. Despite universal provincial opposition, it decided it was going to go ahead with it. Despite the fact that it did not have jurisdiction, it decided it was going to go ahead with it. Frankly, the part that really hurts with that bill, particularly, is the Liberal government knew that if the oil could not be moved and was landlocked, it could not be produced. That was its sneaky way of shutting down oil without shutting down oil.
Canada should and could be the world’s energy producer and supplier of choice and could be the place of energy security and self-sufficiency. Canada could be completely energy self-sufficient if government could get out of the way. However, ut time and time again, the Liberals continue to put ideology and partisanship above supporting our economy or even reality. They have failed to understand that these are hard-working people. These are our neighbours, our friends, and they work hard every single day.
Politicians in this chamber do not mince their words when it comes to speaking in disdain of this industry. In fact, the member for Timmins—James Bay even went so far as to table legislation to make it illegal to say anything supportive of the oil and gas industry, including true and verifiable facts, which would be punishable by massive fines and up to and including jail time. In fact, if his bill were to pass, saying something that is true and verifiable, such as that natural gas is cleaner burning than coal, would be illegal.
That is insane, yet the NDP-Liberal coalition continues pushing its agenda and continues pushing forward with this bill. I have not heard any members from the Liberals or the NDP denounce this insane bill, Bill C-50, because they probably support it, and that is why we are so fearful of everything the government does when it comes to energy.
I wish politicians could simply be honest about the outcomes of their policies, not wordsmithing, not negotiating, and not transition while calling it somehow “just”. We need to accept in this chamber and across the country that Canadian oil and gas jobs are sustainable jobs.
The Liberal just transition is a dangerous government-mandated plan to kill 170,000 Canadian jobs and risks the livelihood of 2.7 million Canadians.
This bill, Bill C-50, is a step, actually more like a leap, toward Soviet-style government-central planning. That is exactly what this is going toward. The NDP-Liberal government claims to value Canadian oil and gas, and yet it wants to increase exports. However, after eight years, it has interfered to kill four pipelines, two of which were specifically designed to export off the west and the east coasts.
Do not worry; hope is on the horizon. Conservatives are going to do everything we can to push back against this legislation. The real solution is electing the leader of the official opposition, the member for Carleton, as our next Prime Minister.
Conservatives would make traditional energy and the development of fuels of the future more affordable and accessible to Canadians. Conservatives would fix what the Liberals broke and would keep westerners, and all provinces, in control of their natural resources. We would respect provincial jurisdiction.
We will respect provincial jurisdiction over natural resources and in all other cases. It is absolutely essential that provincial jurisdiction over natural resources be respected.
Conservatives would bring approvals up and would bring costs and timelines down to ensure Canadian energy security and self-sufficiency and to increase exports to the world. We need technology, not taxes. We need to support an industry that supports this country.
As I described earlier, to so many Canadians, Fort McMurray was, at one point in time, a beacon of hope, prosperity and a fresh start. To the world's leading oil producers, we are a tough competitor that refuses to lie down, but for far too many elected officials across this country, we are simply a cash cow they can abuse.
To the fringe eco-activists, we are unfortunately the enemy, but to me, Fort McMurray has been, and always will be, home. I was born and raised here, and Conservatives of every stripe, federal, provincial and municipal, have always had our backs. They understand that when Fort McMurray works, Alberta works, and when Alberta works, Canada works.
I will not back down from all the politicians in this chamber who seek to land-lock and firewall our oil sands. Pipelines and energy corridors are items of critical national importance and interest for the long-term viability not only of northeastern Alberta but also of Canada and the world. I urge every member of this chamber to vote against this disastrous bill, Bill C-50.
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- Apr/11/24 3:45:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, actually, Alberta is the leader when it comes to clean energy in the country, and earlier in her question, before she was interrupted, the member was asking about, and quoting, the AFL president, who is ironically now running for Alberta's NDP, a party that has been very clear about its distaste and dislike of Alberta's oil sands and oil and gas industry. In fact, the Alberta NDP, when it was in government, created an oil sands task force where it appointed Tzeporah Berman, who called my hometown “Mordor”, so frankly, I am not going to take a single piece of advice, when it comes to supporting what the AFL is saying, from that side of the House.
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- Apr/11/24 3:46:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will say it again. Alberta is a leader when it comes to clean energy here in Canada. We will continue to be a leader if we are allowed to, if the government stops meddling in our provincial affairs and lets us develop our natural resources, which are developed in a truly environmentally friendly way. We will do our best.
However, if the government encroaches on provincial jurisdictions, as suggested in this bill, we will continue to have problems.
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- Apr/11/24 3:48:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is part of the problem. Government should not be deciding which jobs should and should not exist. That should be left to a space where the economy and industry get to work collaboratively to do that, but this is part of the problem. When the Green Party is trying to say to trust it that this is a nothing burger, that raises huge red flags to me because we have heard very clearly that this is a problem.
One of the big problems with Bill C-50, on top of every other big problem in the bill, is the fact that we have not heard from a single witness at committee, because they would just say that they had already studied this, possibly, so they are not going to bring in any witnesses. As such, we do not even know what the eco-activists think, and we do not know what the industry thinks because they have not actually had an opportunity to come before committee. That becomes a serious problem. As the Liberal government has done, time and time again, it has shirked its responsibility and has stepped on provincial jurisdiction, which means that, when and if the bill gets challenged to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court justices will not have expert witness testimony to help figure out what the intent of the government was, costing taxpayers valuable money and doing nothing.
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- Apr/11/24 7:21:25 p.m.
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