- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Calgary Forest Lawn
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,041.76
- Government Page
Madam Speaker, I am going to be splitting my time with my good friend and colleague, the great member for Foothills, who is from the great province of Alberta.
Before I get started, let me give another shout-out to another fellow Albertan, another colleague in this House who has done incredible work on this unjust legislation, the member for Lakeland. She has been an absolute advocate not only for our province but also for our world-class and world-leading energy sector.
The world needs more clean, responsible low-carbon energy. Not only does the world need Canada's world-class energy, but Canadians need it too. They need it not only to heat their homes, keep the lights on and fuel their vehicles, but for the economic benefit it brings.
After eight years of the incompetent Liberal-NDP government, it is just not worth the cost for Canadians or our resource sector. Canada is last among developed countries for GDP per capita growth. Canadians are suffering with the worst GDP per capita growth rate since the Great Depression, or since the 1930s. GDP per person in Canada today is just under what it was halfway through 2018. That means Canada has had five years' worth of economic productivity wiped out.
According to the OECD, Canada will remain last among developed countries for GDP per capita growth through 2060. The government has been doing one thing really well, which is chasing investment out of our country. As our leader once said, all of our exes are running away to Texas.
The costly Liberal-NDP coalition has not just been chasing investment out of our country, but chasing out jobs, people and talent as well. People do not want to move to this country because they do not see a future here anymore. When my family came here as immigrants, there was a hope in Canada that if one put in hard work, one would be able to see the fruits of that labour. However, after years of the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, all that hope has been wiped away by bad economic policy that has told the world that Canada is not open for business anymore.
This unjust legislation would further hurt Canada's economy and reputation on the world stage, as if the Prime Minister's reputation has not already damaged Canada enough.
The Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada was formed just a few years ago to advocate against the government's anti-competitive and antiworker policies. Now half of its manufacturer members have already moved or are moving their operations out of Canada.
The green industry in Canada will not even make a dent in the kind of economic development and growth needed for recovery. In 2007, the clean-tech sector was 3% of Canada's GDP. Today, even after billions and billions of tax dollars and government subsidies and billions more in private sector investment, it is still only 3%, and 1.6% of employment.
Despite the anti-energy agenda by the Liberal-NDP government, the unconstitutional “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69, the tanker ban bill, Bill C-48, cancelling Energy East, cancelling Keystone XL and not building any of the 18 LNG projects proposed when the Prime Minister took office, Canada's energy sector still represents 10% of our GDP and, with the related manufacturing that comes with it, contributes over $120 billion to our economy. Canada needs its energy sector to be strong to attract businesses, investments and jobs in order to get our economic growth and productivity back on track.
The Liberal-NDP government loves nothing more than to vilify profit or the success of large Canadian industries. When it comes to Canada's energy sector, it is like a sport for the left to see who can hate it the most. There is a big cost to these failed Liberal-NDP policies, these anti-energy and anti-Canada policies. These attacks will throw at least 170,000 people out of work across the country, many of them in my home province of Alberta and many in my riding of Calgary Forest Lawn. They will displace another 450,000 workers and risk the livelihoods of 2.7 million Canadians in all provinces and sectors, regardless of whether they are working class or middle class.
We know that people would lose jobs with the unjust transition the left is proposing. We already saw it in Ontario under Kathleen Wynne with the green energy program, which killed off nearly 100,000 jobs directly. The 50,000 green jobs those Liberals promised to create never materialized. In Alberta, the Rachel Notley NDP, in 2015, implemented a just transition, and in small mining towns like Hanna, just north of Calgary, workers were promised new green jobs once their coal mining jobs were wiped out. Just as in Ontario, over 1,000 workers left town because the jobs that had been promised were not there. This was in a town of just under 3,000 people, and 1,000 were driven out of work and out of town.
The sheer number of job losses we are talking about on a national scale is devastating, especially at a time when Canadians face a cost of living crisis. Sixty per cent of Canadians are choosing cheaper, less nutritious food because they cannot afford healthy options. Millions of Canadians are visiting food banks as families choose between keeping a roof over their head and keeping food on the table. Nearly a third of mortgage holders are concerned they will not be able to afford their mortgage, as interest rates could increase monthly payments by 40% or higher.
It is not just the jobs, livelihoods and communities that suffer when the Liberal-NDP government attacks our energy industry. It is also hurting Canadian pensions. The Canadian pension plan and Ontario pension plan invest billions in Canada's oil and gas sector because they know it is a good return on investment. In fact, seven of the largest pension funds in Canada remain invested in Canadian oil and gas. By firing energy workers and attacking our world-class energy sector, the Liberal-NDP coalition is attacking the retirement security of Canadian seniors and workers.
There is a huge impact of this unjust transition on communities and Canadians. There is nothing fair, equitable or remotely just in this blatant anti-energy attack. The Liberal-NDP government, with its war on Canadian jobs and paycheques, is not worth the cost. Canadian energy companies provide good-paying jobs, even good union jobs, for Canadians.
As an example, the Keystone XL pipeline project was to employ 1,400 direct and 5,400 indirect jobs in Alberta alone. The province and TC Energy partnered with Natural Law Energy, an indigenous-led and indigenous-run company. Many of the Canadians who worked on the project were indigenous. The economic benefit for Albertans in surrounding rural communities kept people employed and businesses running.
Canadian energy companies are also leaders in the investment and development of clean technology. Seventy-five per cent of private sector investment in clean technology comes from the oil and gas sector.
Canada's energy sector contributes $48 billion in taxes and royalties to all levels of government. These continuous attacks on our energy sector drive up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. We do not need to go very far to ask a Canadian about that. We have talked to Canadians all across this country who just last winter were hit with the failed policies of the Liberal-NDP government when we saw the cost of heating homes double and saw gas prices at record levels. All of these things are contributing to the cost of living crisis we see today with the failed carbon tax scam that the Liberal-NDP government continues to introduce.
It was not like this before the Liberal-NDP government and it will not be like that after the Liberal-NDP government, because when the member for Carleton becomes prime minister of this country, we are going to bring it home. Conservatives will bring home energy production to Canada to produce energy here and create jobs to get Canadians good paycheques instead of giving dollars to dictators. We will green-light green projects like tidal water, hydro, hydrogen and LNG. We are going to make sure that we support our seniors by axing the failed carbon tax to bring down the cost of gas, groceries and home heating and bring home lower prices. We are going to bring it home for Canadians.
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- Feb/1/22 1:25:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to say happy new year to all my colleagues and to just say how great it is to be physically back here in the House with everybody.
Last November's throne speech brought us the standard empty words with no real plan to solve any of the numerous problems Canadians are facing today: home affordability, inflation, rising home heating costs, a supply chain disaster and the labour shortage crisis that we see in this country. Everyday Canadians who do not have access to a trust fund like the Prime Minister does are hurting the most, yet the government would paint a happy picture and say, “Nothing to see here. All is good.”
The people of Calgary Forest Lawn are some of the hardest hit by the out-of-touch Prime Minister's failing policies. He is out there virtue signalling and dividing Canadians, while my constituents live pay cheque to pay cheque. Some of them are worried about where their next meal will come from or how they will pay rent, let alone an even more expensive carbon tax. I really should not be shocked. This is the same Prime Minister who does not think about monetary policy or how his massive money-printing operation will effect Canadians. It is Justinflation.
Instead of focusing on growing the economy, empowering entrepreneurs and attracting investors, the Prime Minister sells Canadian companies to China without any national security review. He ignores the untapped potential of Alberta's oil and gas sector, and instead imports oil from countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. While he might be making the green left happy with his “leave it in the ground” mentality, Canadians suffer the most with his ridiculous policies. Our energy industry's environmental, social and governance standards are the highest in the world, and supporting this sector creates good-paying, Canadian jobs.
This mismanagement does not just stop with the economy. We have seen the government's failure to stand up for Canadian interests abroad. The Prime Minister and his cabinet would rather get close with the Communist Party of China than the people in Hong Kong who are standing up for democracy and freedom. Our global commitment to our allies is weak at best.
In Ukraine, the Canadian government would rather give a loan and some non-lethal equipment than the defensive weapons that Ukraine needs. Other NATO countries, like the U.S. and the U.K., are supplying Ukraine with weapons, and European countries have committed ships and fighter jets to the defence of our ally. After what we saw in Afghanistan, we cannot be surprised that the government would rather deliver flowery statements than roll up its sleeves and get to work defending our friends. Much like what happened in Afghanistan, this is a pure failure on the government's part.
Around 10,000 Afghan interpreters and their families remain stranded. Those people who served the Canadian government alongside our brave Canadian Armed Forces are now forgotten by the Liberal government. They are hunted by Taliban fighters looking for retribution while the government stands idly by. The Prime Minister pats himself on the back for a job well failed, while saying it is too hard to help the people on the ground.
My office has received dozens of emails from Afghan refugees stuck in Afghanistan. They have applied for the special immigration programs, but still IRCC has ignored them. The government only sends auto-replies or leaves people unread. The stories these refugees are sharing with my office are heartbreaking. Families have had their homes taken by the Taliban, parents and siblings shot and children left to starve. The humanitarian situation is so bad that parents are now selling their children and organs to try to earn money to feed starving family members.
Of the 40,000 promised Afghan refugees, there have been about 7,000 who have made it to Canada. Only 4,300 of those 7,000 were refugees who applied under the special immigration program for people who assisted the Government of Canada. Instead of working with veterans and NGOs to get the most vulnerable out of Afghanistan, or even the private sponsors willing to assist in resettling refugees in Canada, IRCC has shut everyone out.
To say the situation in Afghanistan is dire would be an understatement, yet IRCC, Global Affairs, National Defence and the Prime Minister continue to be uncoordinated. There is no plan, and there seems to be no hope for our allies left behind in Afghanistan. A lack of a plan seems to be standard with the Liberal government. At IRCC, things are worse, as thousands of immigrants remain stuck in the government's massive backlogs. Liberals say that they will continue increasing immigration levels while also reducing wait times, yet IRCC has not released a proper plan.
As of December, over 1.8 million immigration applications were stuck in the Liberal-made backlog, and it is growing. There are so many newcomers stuck, waiting months or years for applications to be processed. These are families who remain separated and businesses that are looking to fill jobs. This is hurting our economy and hurting families.
There are several ongoing cases in my office that have not moved since even before the pandemic. Earlier this month, I wrote a letter to the Minister of Immigration asking him to finally deliver a plan to clear the Liberal-made backlog. I have not received a response, and 1.8 million people are still waiting for theirs.
Newcomers to Canada deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. That honestly starts by developing a reliable, transparent and effective immigration system. Our country cannot afford to shut out hard-working immigrants, entrepreneurs and investors looking to come to Canada to live the Canadian dream. Temporary foreign workers and Canadian employers cannot wait years to get LMIAs processed and their applications approved. Our economy cannot handle the growing labour shortage crisis. The economic impact of this historic and increasing backlog has cost billions to our economy and cost Canadian businesses their future.
It seems Liberals are focused on immigration for political gain instead of helping people looking to come to Canada. As it stands now, children, spouses and grandparents are left separated from their loved ones. Parents have missed the birth of their children, first steps and even graduations. Families cannot say goodbye to their loved ones or attend funerals. This is all due to the Liberal-made backlog in immigration.
No one should be punished with family separation in this country simply because they want to start a new life here. The Liberals' mismanagement of the immigration system is absolutely unacceptable. Now is the time to have a real, concrete plan. The clock is ticking and immigrants and Canadians deserve to know how long it will take to clear this historic backlog. Now is not the time for more empty promises and flashy announcements that lead nowhere. There are so many people waiting for answers and hoping to call Canada home.
Canadians are tired of the division and arrogance showed by the government. As we begin a new session of Parliament, let us address the concerns of everyday Canadians. The government must clear the backlogs at IRCC and get our allies in Afghanistan out of harm's way. We must stand up to the regimes in China, Russia and Afghanistan. We must show the world that Canada still has the guts to be a peacekeeper, a defender of democracy and an advocate for freedom.
At home, the Liberal Prime Minister must reduce inflation and improve Canada's cost of living. As an Albertan, I will never stop fighting for Canada's energy industry, even when Ottawa gives in to to special interests and foreign influences. My colleagues and I in the Conservative caucus will continue to give a voice to all Canadians, especially those left behind by the Liberal government.
Canada is at a crossroad, and choosing the status quo is a recipe for disaster.
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