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Results: 106 - 120 of 141
View Laurel Collins Profile
NDP (BC)
View Laurel Collins Profile
2020-02-25 19:52 [p.1562]
Madam Speaker, immediate jobs are what they want, yet Teck Frontier mine promised 7,000 construction jobs that may or may not have really appeared because the company said to the joint review panel that its business case was built on $95 a barrel. The CEO then admitted to the company's own investors that anyone with any credibility looking at the price of oil knows that it will never get to $95 a barrel. We are at $51, and projections say it will not go much higher than $60 to maybe, tops, $70.
This project was not going to be built. If you want good jobs now, invest in the low-carbon economy.
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
View Heather McPherson Profile
2020-02-25 19:56 [p.1562]
Madam Speaker, at the heart of this debate is one fundamental truth: We need a solution to the economic crisis gripping my province, we need an economy that supports Albertans and we need the UCP and the Liberal government to stop playing politics with the people of my province and get to work.
I am so tired of listening to this blame game in which not one member of Jason Kenney's government or the Prime Minister's Liberal government is actually working with Albertans.
Teck was never the solution to the crisis impacting my province. The Prime Minister knew that, and so does Mr. Kenney. Our energy sector plays an important role in our economy. The Alberta oil and gas sector has, for some time, been the economic engine that drives this country and has driven our province.
I am a fourth-generation Albertan. I am deeply proud of Alberta and our heritage, and I will proudly declare that I come from a long line of hard-working Albertans who have contributed to the oil and gas industry and have built our province and our country. It is for those Albertans that I am speaking this evening.
Our leadership has failed us. Not only have they failed to work with Albertans to diversify our economy and make sure Albertans were well placed for the 21st century, but they have told stories about it. We have been told that oil and gas is coming back like the past. We have been told that there is another boom just around the corner. We have been told that this project or that project will save us.
I am the daughter of an oil and gas worker. I have lived through the boom-and-bust industry in this province, and it is not going to be coming back the way we had it before, full story. When the Conservative members of this House fail to acknowledge that, they are not doing justice to people in Alberta.
What we have not been told is there was another path forward. Norway has $905 billion saved up as a result of their energy royalties. We have saved $17 billion in our heritage fund. That is $905 billion to $17 billion. To top it off, Norway started saving in 1990. When did we start saving? It was 1976. I was four.
The Conservatives have given away our wealth. The Liberals have given away our wealth. The government has known for decades about greenhouse gas impacts and it has not done the saving and planning that we needed to do.
What is worse than that is the failure of our leadership to fight the most important crisis of our time, the climate crisis. We need deep investment in Alberta. We need to invest in Albertans. We need to give Albertans the jobs that they earned and deserve. We need to stop lying to them that there will be some sort of a renewal of oil and gas, that it is coming back to $95 a barrel, because it is not.
There are young people who live in my riding who go to the University of Alberta and King's University. These young people are looking to the future and are scared for their future because we are not addressing the climate change crisis and we are also not providing an economic opportunity for my province.
While the Liberals say we are doing enough and the Conservatives say we need to double down, nobody is fighting for Albertans. Nobody is trying to make sure there are jobs in my province for my people.
View Vance Badawey Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Vance Badawey Profile
2020-02-25 20:19 [p.1566]
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to contribute to the debate this evening. Let me remind the House that over the last four years, our government's plan has been focused squarely on investing in the middle class and helping people who are working hard to join it.
We believe all Canadians should benefit from our country's economic success. Cutting taxes for all but the wealthiest, and giving more money to middle-class families and those who need help the most, are only the first steps in our new mandate.
We will also make it easier for people to get an education, buy their first home and find care for their kids. We will help workers enter the workforce, grow their skills and transition between jobs. We need to continue to build confidence in Canada's economy, making sure the world continues to see our great nation as a great place to invest. We are building this confidence with targeted support for businesses, which will encourage more job-creating investments.
To make it easier for small businesses to succeed and create more jobs, we have cut taxes for small businesses not once, but twice. This is part of our government's responsible plan to build a strong, growing economy. We will build on the progress of the last four years and continue to make a real difference in the lives of Canadians today but equally, if not more importantly, well into the future.
Part of that means acknowledging the regional challenges that exist, particularly in the oil and gas sector. For that reason, we are moving forward with the Trans Mountain expansion project.
At a time when most of our energy exports go to the United States and the economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan are struggling, Canadians know that we need to open up new international markets. The Trans Mountain expansion project will create thousands of good middle-class jobs, accelerate Canada's clean-energy transition and open up new avenues for indigenous economic prosperity.
Today, construction is well under way and thousands of Canadians are hard at work. Contractors have started work at the Burnaby terminal, the Westridge Marine Terminal, the Edmonton terminal and pumping stations in Alberta.
In October, construction began on segment one in the Edmonton area after the Canada Energy Regulator released land for construction. The work on segment two started immediately.
This has allowed the company to start putting pipe in the ground. The goal is to have the expansion project in service by the latter half of 2022. In the short term, this is creating good, well-paying jobs. So far, over 3,000 people have started working on this project. At peak construction, there are expected to be over 5,500 people employed on sites across Alberta and British Columbia.
Once completed, the project will open up new international markets, get us a fair price for our energy resources and provide much-needed relief to the economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The project, as it stands today, is very different from the project that was originally planned by Kinder Morgan. It will now support more union jobs in B.C., as well as in Alberta, and the project has been designed to a higher standard for environmental protection.
As the company has been working on the engineering plans for this project, environmental protection is always at the forefront. Trans Mountain has a robust safety regime, with important risk controls for all traffic and oil tankers in particular.
Over the last 65 years, Trans Mountain has developed comprehensive safety, spill prevention and emergency response plans to make sure the company is protecting the public, the environment and its employees.
The project will also help move less oil by rail and more by pipeline, which is the most economic, environmentally sound and safe mode of transportation. Our government remains confident that the project is commercially viable. We are comfortable that Canada will see a positive return on its investment when it comes time to sell.
Once completed, the pipeline's capacity to move Canadian oil will almost triple, unlocking potential to meet the world's demand. This is a monumental project, one in the best interests of the entire country. The project will also create economic benefits for many indigenous communities. To date, Trans Mountain has signed agreements worth more than $500 million with 58 indigenous communities.
It will generate new revenues for all levels of government for the betterment of Canada and Canadians. Over the course of this project's construction and the first 20 years of operation, the Conference Board of Canada estimates that this project will add over $160 billion to the Canadian economy and add $46 billion to government revenues.
Almost half of these revenues, $19.4 billion, will go straight to Alberta, supporting provincial and municipal programs that Albertans depend on each and every day. Every dollar the federal government earns from this project will help fund new technologies and green energy solutions that will ensure Alberta remains an energy leader as we work together to fight climate change.
Let us make no mistake: In a world where Canada makes a rapid and decisive transition to a low-carbon economy, the oil and gas sector has an important role to play. In 2018, we announced an investment of more than $1.6 billion for Canada's oil and gas sector. It included measures designed to support workers as well as their families, foster competitiveness and improve the long-term environmental performance of the oil and gas sector. Investments have already been made to support oil and gas companies, reduce their carbon footprint and develop alternative uses for their products.
To conclude, by building the Trans Mountain expansion project, we can make sure we are able to safely get more Canadian resources to world markets where we can get good prices for them. That increase of revenues will benefit everyone. It will mean more money for businesses to create good, well-paying jobs for Canadians. That is more money for hard-working families, money that can be spent to help local communities and grow our economy.
View Gérard Deltell Profile
CPC (QC)
View Gérard Deltell Profile
2020-02-25 21:46 [p.1578]
Madam Speaker, last year, Quebeckers consumed 10.6 billion litres of gasoline. This number has been rising steadily for years. Furthermore, 62% of those 10.6 billion litres came from the United States, and 38% came from Canada.
Some may find it funny that we are supporting Donald Trump's America this way, but we Conservatives believe that Canada would be much better off if we were energy self-sufficient. To get there, we need projects. This week, Canada experienced yet another backlash under the government of the past four years.
For nine years, Teck Frontier had been working on an oil extraction project so that Canada could stop buying oil from the United States and become self-sufficient. This project would have created 10,000 jobs, including 7,000 in operations and close to 3,000 in mine construction. The project would have required investments of $20 billion that would have been beneficial to Canada's economy. We are talking about $70 billion in economic benefits for the various orders of government.
Unfortunately, this project is dead. It died due to government inaction. The government did everything in its power to throw a wrench in the works of this project.
As I said, for nine years, people spent $1 billion preparing the project. They brought in the best specialists in the world to find the best ways to produce oil with the least energy and the best environmental footprint possible. What is more, Alberta's energy sector has reduced its pollution levels by 33% over the past few years.
Everything was ready. In July, the file was placed on the desk of the Prime Minister of Canada, ready for approval. This was the last step in the process. In nine years, every provincial, federal, regional, environmental and economic step had been completed. One of the most important steps was to secure the support of the 14 first nations directly affected by the project.
The current government keeps crowing about national reconciliation. Instead of building bridges, we are seeing barricades going up across Canada. Real reconciliation means working hand in hand on successful projects, not giving away people's money.
As Felix Leclerc said, “The best way to kill a man is to pay him to do nothing”. Unfortunately, the first nations have been victims of this terrible approach, whereas these projects would allow them to work hand in hand with non-indigenous people and be a full partner in prosperity.
Last July, the Prime Minister had a potential project for approval in front of him that was good for the Canadian economy and for all Canadians. Just before the election, perhaps worried, or fearful, about the political implications, the Prime Minister left the file to gather dust on his desk. The election was then called.
After the election, he did not know what to do with the project. He found two ways to throw a wrench in the works. Even though everything had been done properly, the Liberal government, which wanted to really make sure the project was not approved, invented two new demands to see how the industry would react. It was taken by surprise when the company was able to meet both of these new demands. Everything was set to go.
Four days before the project was to be approved, Teck Resources found out that the government had let prominent members of Parliament publicly announce that the project was not good. Members from Kingston and the Montreal area spoke out in opposition to the project.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when members suddenly contradict the government while it claims to be taking time to think, it sends a message that the government wants nothing to do with the project.
We need to remember that we certainly know people who spoke out against the project. We need to remember that elected officials from Kingston paid for ads criticizing the project. The company got discouraged and decided to abandon the project. Unlike a member who spoke earlier, I will quote the full sentence. The letter signed by the president and CEO of Teck said the following:
...we have, as others in the industry have done, continued to optimize the project to further confirm it is commercially viable.
That is contrary to what those on the other side are saying, namely that the company backed out because the project was not profitable. That is not true.
I would also like to point out that the price of oil is pretty good today. We know very well that it fluctuates constantly. This is a 30- to 40-year project, not a 30- to 40-day project. Those are the facts.
Ultimately, after spending $1 billion, working for nine years, preparing jobs for 10,000 people, garnering $20 million in investments, laying the groundwork for $70 billion in economic benefits for governments, and managing to work with 14 first nations, the company pulled the plug on the project.
Unfortunately, it is not surprising with this government. Since the Liberals came to power, 200,000 jobs in the energy sector have been lost. It would be like all the car and plane companies in Canada closing up shop tomorrow. It would be a national disaster in Ontario and Quebec, and rightly so. In the past four years, 200,000 jobs have been lost. I hold this government responsible. The leader of the government said with a straight face:
We need to phase them out.
This industry is not being phased out fast enough. Pipeline workers are a threat to social security wherever they go. That is what the Prime Minister is saying. There is nothing more insulting than insulting Canadian workers. The Liberals said that they were looking forward to it and it was not going as fast as they would like. What an affront to these Canadian workers. What an affront to this industry that is fundamental to our country. It is the Prime Minister who is acting like that, and it is certainly not for everyone's good.
The Financial Post reported today that $150 billion in investments have been lost since the Liberals took office. Meanwhile, in the United States, production more than doubled over the past 12 years, including under Barack Obama. The Prime Minister's close friend was not afraid to develop his country's full energy potential. He realized that energy self-sufficiency is a good thing and that there is no shame in producing shale gas or shale oil. The United States drilled 670,000 shale gas and oil wells under Barack Obama. I look forward to seeing the reaction of the Quebeckers who love Barack Obama so much when they hear that fact. That is a leader who cares about his country's economy, not a leader who shows contempt for his economy.
Sometimes people say that Quebeckers do not like oil. Need I remind the members that Quebeckers consumed 10 billion litres of oil last year, 62% of which came from the United States? Need I remind the members that 400 Quebec businesses are directly affected by the recently cancelled project? Need I remind the members that 50,000 people in Quebec work for the petrochemical industry? Need I remind the members that Quebeckers are quite familiar with pipelines? Jason Kenney did not invent them; they have been around since 1942.
Quebec has 2,000 kilometres of pipeline. A 248-kilometre pipeline was built in 2012 between Lévis and Montreal. It crosses 26 waterways and 630 parcels of agricultural land. It works so well that nobody knows about it and nobody talks about it. That is a fact in Quebec. There are nine pipelines running under the St. Lawrence, and as far as I know, there are no cyclops fish swimming around. The pipelines were built properly.
Teck's Frontier project died today, and this is really not a good day for Canada or Quebec.
View Kody Blois Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Kody Blois Profile
2020-02-25 22:18 [p.1583]
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the chance this evening to bring my remarks to this discussion as a rural member of Parliament from Nova Scotia.
I believe it is an important time to talk about our energy sector in this country, and I appreciate that the member for Lakeland has brought this motion forward.
I will start by recognizing the role that the energy sector, particularly in western Canada, has played and will continue to play in supporting our prosperity across this country. Many of my colleagues have highlighted that in their speeches here this evening.
The economic benefit that these projects have brought to our country have helped pay for public services from Newfoundland to British Columbia and everywhere in between. In my riding of Kings—Hants there are many residents who have benefited and continue to benefit from these types of projects, and they are not just Alberta projects or western Canada projects. They are truly national projects.
My perspective on the discourse around the Teck Frontier decision, particularly in the last month, is that it was polarized in a very detrimental way. In one sense, many of my Conservative colleagues alluded to the positive impact that this project or similar projects would have on job creation and taxation for public spending in this country, and that certainly resonates with me. However, there is very little acknowledgement of the environmental impacts of these projects and our ability as a country to meet our international climate targets.
Some of my Bloc, NDP and Green colleagues rightfully pointed to the reality that these projects, like Teck, create challenges for us to be able to meet our climate targets and that they have an environmental impact both locally and regionally. However, I think they fail to appreciate that the oil and gas industry will play a reduced but still important role in the Canadian and global economy in the days ahead.
The reality is that Canadians want balance. They want a government that is focused on climate change and protecting the environment, but also supporting a strong economy. The Prime Minister has made this clear time and time again, and we have done that. We have created 1.2 million jobs since 2015 while implementing a price on pollution and reducing the GHG emission gap that the Conservative government had left us in 2015.
I want to provide a couple of examples which I believe illustrate Canadians' desire for a government that is balanced on both sides of this issue.
Canadians overwhelmingly support a price on pollution. They overwhelmingly voted in the last election for parties that want to move forward on environment and climate change. However, Canadians overwhelmingly also support the construction of Trans Mountain pipeline. Canadians are pragmatic, and they want a government that has this balance.
My concern is the tone of this particular debate and narrative in this House. The middle ground on these issues seems to have eroded.
I want to address first the narrative from the Conservatives that Teck represents 10,000 jobs, and that somehow Alberta and western Canada's only way forward is through oil and gas.
The member for Lethbridge suggested that people in her province want to work, but suggested that seemingly the only way forward or the only type of work is in the oil and gas sector. I know that is important, but to suggest that this is the only way forward is, frankly, naive of the other opportunities. I do not mean to be unparliamentary, but I think it sells short the potential that is in western Canada.
I want to talk about the 10,000 jobs. We know that there would be 10,000 jobs if construction had moved forward. However, Teck decided not to move this project forward, and the jobs would have only been created if the project were to be built. The CEO of Teck had mentioned three impediments in being able to move that forward.
One impediment was price. The Government of Canada does not control the world oil price. The project was built on an economic analysis of $95 for a barrel of oil. I believe right now the price of oil on the global market is about $50. Although my Conservative colleagues would talk about the viability of this project, there is no doubt that the analysis was originally built on an expectation of something that is far from reality at this point or in the foreseeable future.
They talked about a partner. The Government of Canada is not involved with supporting a private sector partner to move this forward, and so that would be another impediment. Of course, our government is committed to making sure the pipeline and Trans Mountain happens so that we have the ability to get our resources to market.
However, the narrative in the House has been “if only this project was approved”, which, of course, we did not have the ability to choose to go forward with, and “if only 10,000 jobs would be created” is a fallacy. We cannot tell Canadians that if only this happens they will have 10,000 jobs, because it is selling short and not explaining the nuances of this particular project.
Here is why it is a fallacy. As far as I know, there are currently 38 petroleum or oil and gas projects that have been approved. They could start tomorrow if industry wanted to move them forward. They have gone through the regulatory process, but they are not being built. As much as my Conservative colleagues would suggest the cause is Bill C-69 or other legislative measures that we have taken forward on environment, the reality is that these energy companies are looking at a 40-year window. They are recognizing that the world is making a transition.
We are moving to a low-carbon economy. We are moving on renewable energy around the world, and they are rightfully asking whether they can return their cost of capital. We know that the Canadian energy sector is important and that they do amazing work, but we also know that the process to extract the bitumen from the oil sands is much more energy intensive.
The fact is that we have 38 projects. Some colleagues in this House would be excited by the fact that they are not being built because they would put us further and further away from our emission target, and I can appreciate that. However, I think all Canadians, not just Albertans or those from western Canada, need to understand the importance that these projects have played and the revenue that they have created for our economy to pay for public services. We need to make sure that we can transition and support, if these energy companies do not want to move forward on these projects.
Those who would suggest that the petroleum industry in Canada has no future, or that it is not economically viable, fail to appreciate that transition does not happen overnight. They fail to appreciate the work the Government of Canada has done in the last four years to meet and exceed our Paris climate accords.
In 2015, our government inherited the reality that our country was on pace to miss our international climate targets by over 300 megatonnes. In the four years that we have been in office, we have been able to reduce that gap to 72 megatonnes, and that is not including the measures that we will be bringing forward in this parliamentary session.
My message to my progressive colleagues in this chamber is that we need an industry and we need western provinces that will co-operate and help us get there. We need to be able to work with them accordingly. Having a petroleum industry that provides the needed international product and also helps our country on its path to meet its much-needed GHG emission targets is the best path forward.
I, for one, certainly appreciate Don Lindsay's words on reducing partisanship on these particular issues. We can find a way to balance the reality that the petroleum sector will play an important role in the Canadian economy and the global economy in the days ahead, but it will not necessarily play the same integral role in the next 50 years as it has in the last 50. I think we need to be mindful of that.
I have appreciated the opportunity to speak to this issue this evening, and I welcome some questions from my colleagues accordingly.
View Warren Steinley Profile
CPC (SK)
View Warren Steinley Profile
2020-02-25 22:31 [p.1585]
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for St. Albert—Edmonton. I am looking forward to hearing his comments on this as well.
A lot of my colleagues have spoken very eloquently in this emergency debate, brought forward by the member for Lakeland in her passion for her constituency. I am proud to be able to speak along with her about the crisis that is happening in western Canada within our energy sector right now.
I have been here since 11 o'clock this morning and I have heard many speeches regarding the opposition motion. We can tie a lot of these together. I will touch on some of the words that our Liberal colleagues have said throughout the day.
I also want to talk from the perspective of my constituency, my colleagues, my friends and my family. A lot of people who are very close to me work in the energy sector. One of my best friends worked in the energy sector during his time at university. He was a roughneck. He was a rig hand. Now he is an anesthesiologist. People do leave the oil field and get different careers. That should be their choice, not the choice of a select few elite who think their jobs are not worth having anymore.
I have heard that a lot in the chamber today. There is a group of people within the chamber who think they should have the say as to whether oil and gas workers, hard-working men and women, deserve to keep their jobs. That is not right. They are one of the most innovative groups of people in our country. They work hard to ensure that what they do is cleaner, greener and better than any other country in the world. To have a group of people in this chamber say they are not good enough is absolutely ridiculous. Those members should all take a long look in the mirror when they get home.
Standing up for our constituents is what we should be doing. I am not sure if they are doing that. I am not sure if they sent out householders or surveys on whether their constituents are against Canadian oil and gas. I have been in the chamber for only three months, but I was an MLA for eight years. Canadians would prefer to have Canadian gas going into their gas tanks. Whether in the Maritimes or in B.C., Canadians would prefer to have Canadian energy heating their homes.
That is what this emergency debate is about. It is about whether we think Canada should be a country of yes: yes we can build a project, yes we believe in our energy sector and yes we believe in the hard-working men and women who work in our oil and gas sector. We think they have the right to try to make their companies cleaner and greener. I believe they deserve to have that chance and not be phased out by people in this chamber.
I have heard a lot of people quoting, cherry-picking quotes from the Teck CEO's letter. My hon. colleagues do not seem to be reading the whole letter. I will quote from that letter:
We are disappointed to have arrived at this point. Teck put forward a socially and environmentally responsible project that was industry leading and had the potential to create significant economic benefits for Canadians. Frontier has unprecedented support from the indigenous communities and was deemed to be in the public interest by a joint federal-provincial review panel following weeks of public hearings and a lengthy regulatory process. Since the original application in 2011, we have, as others in the industry have done, continued to optimize the project to further confirm [its commercial viability].
I have heard comments about the spot price of oil and West Texas Intermediate right now. It is $50 a barrel. That is true. I understand businesses are still going in the oil sands in Alberta. Syncrude is still operational. It is weird. A company can still make money at this price.
For opposition members to now be captains of industry and talk about energy products and say it could not be done for commercial viability is not true. If the government had been able to approve that project and let that company make the choice after the project was approved, it would have been an interesting position. If the government gave the project the go-ahead three weeks ago, would it have agreed that the project may have continued to be implemented in Alberta?
Do not take my word for it that this was a political decision. Lorne Gunter published a great article a couple of days ago:
The fault is clearly with the [Prime Minister's] government's entirely spineless response to blockades across the country.
I will quote the article:
Make no mistake, the end of Teck Resources’ Frontier oilsands mine is [the Prime Minister's] fault—plainly, clearly, unequivocally.
The project’s cancellation also means the radical fringe is in charge of Canada, not the government, the courts or the police.
Teck’s decision, announced Sunday, will also have far-reaching effects on the entire Canadian economy, not just the energy sector.
There is no doubt this is [the Prime Minister's] fault.
The article went on to say:
[The Prime Minister] showed he wasn’t interested in being in charge when, last Tuesday, he said the answer to the lawless at the blockades was more touchy-feely consultation and listening.
He ends the article:
Don’t ask a federal Liberal MP or cabinet minister what Canada’s First Nations policies are. Don’t even ask the majority of Indigenous Canadians who want to improve their communities by participating in projects such as Teck Frontier and Coastal GasLink.
Go ask the unelected, unaccountable radicals at the blockades, because they’re in charge now.
Is that the country we are going to live in? I have three young children, ages six, four and three. Is that the country we want to pass on to the next generation where there is no rule of law? Is this not the place where we make decisions? Is this not the place where we want to make sure big, nation-building projects can be built?
I have heard almost every left-wing falsehood this evening, including the Victoria MP saying we have to be cleaner while Victoria dumps 100,000 litres of raw sewage in the ocean every year. Thanks for that. Maybe the MPs should clean up their own backyard first before talking about what we should do in western Canada, in Saskatchewan and Alberta. That would be a good start.
I want to talk about some of my constituents and some of the hard-working people who put pipes in the ground: the people who work at Evraz and the people who want to go to work. When I was door-knocking, I talked with Wade on his doorstep. It was snowing so I did not see it at first, but he pointed to the “for sale” sign on his front yard. He told me he had not worked for 18 months and could not afford his house anymore. His wife just left him, so he could not afford the payments.
These are real Canadians who are having difficult times. It is incumbent upon the government to support all of Canada. The crux of the motion is that we should have had this conversation when this happened in the automobile and aerospace sectors because those jobs are as important as the jobs in western Canadian provinces. They are as important as our oil and gas sector. We have had those debates and we had comments from members saying maybe we should not have this debate. Maybe this is not a crisis and maybe this is not important.
I hear it being said about my constituents that maybe their jobs are not important and they have to get new jobs. There are 300,000 new clean jobs in this country. Can anyone name them? Probably not, because a lot of them are in the oil and gas sector, which is doing clean-energy projects.
Before we had a group of people in this chamber saying our hard-working men and women in the oil and gas sector and in the construction sector are dangerous in small communities. They help build small communities. They are not dangerous people in those communities.
Before we have a group of men and women in this chamber saying the hard-working men and women in the oil and gas sector would not get the job done and have a cleaner energy sector, we should give them that chance before we phase them out. We are going to be here fighting for them, making sure they have that chance now and in the years to come.
View Ron Liepert Profile
CPC (AB)
View Ron Liepert Profile
2020-02-24 14:11 [p.1426]
Mr. Speaker, this week will go down in the history books of our country as the week that the Liberals killed any hope of recovery for the Alberta economy. When I got off the plane last night and heard that due to the incompetence of the government, Teck Resources had shuttered its plans to build a $20-billion oil sands plant, I could not help but think of the old The Band song, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
These eco-lefties, out of touch with reality, members of the separatist Quebec party, the socialist NDP and those social elites who sit in the back benches of the Liberal government are responsible for this decision that happened yesterday. The Teck mine would have created tens of thousands of jobs and helped the Canadian economy. The Prime Minister was wiped out in western Canada in the last election and he said he heard the message, but he has not learned anything. I ask the Prime Minister to resign before he ruins my country.
View Peter Fragiskatos Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Peter Fragiskatos Profile
2020-02-24 14:48 [p.1433]
Mr. Speaker, while our economy has seen incredible growth in recent years, we know that this prosperity is not always equally shared. As a government we have created over one million jobs in the past four years, but we must make sure that all Canadians benefit.
Can the Minister of Economic Development update the House on what we are doing to create opportunities for people in my region of southwestern Ontario?
View Mélanie Joly Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from London North Centre for his great work. Obviously, Canadians need to have access to good-paying jobs in their region and need to be able to stay in their hometowns. That is why we are creating opportunities all across the country for them.
Recently, we announced 1,000 new jobs in southwestern Ontario, 40 new jobs in Windsor in the auto sector, 170 new jobs in Leamington, the tomato capital of Canada at Highbury Canco, 700 new jobs in clean tech in Sarnia and also in the energy sector.
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
View Heather McPherson Profile
2020-02-24 15:06 [p.1436]
Mr. Speaker, Albertans are paying the price for a failure of leadership by both Jason Kenney and Justin Trudeau. Teck's decision—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
View Heather McPherson Profile
2020-02-24 15:07 [p.1436]
Mr. Speaker, Teck's decision last night is a direct result of their failure on climate change and our energy sector.
In Alberta, families and businesses that create jobs need certainty from the government, not more failure. The path to a strong economic future requires federal leadership and investment in economic diversification.
What is the Prime Minister doing to help Albertans diversify our economy, and to protect and create jobs?
View Jonathan Wilkinson Profile
Lib. (BC)
Mr. Speaker, as I said before, this was a decision taken by Teck Resources. I know that it was probably a difficult decision.
The Government of Canada has thought very carefully about the letter that Don Lindsay, the CEO of Teck Resources, sent to me. In it he talks about the need for us to be aggressively fighting climate change and doing so in a manner that promotes clean economic growth.
That is exactly what we have been doing through the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change, which was negotiated with the provinces and territories. It is something that we certainly intend to accelerate as we go forward to 2050 and the target of net zero.
View John Brassard Profile
CPC (ON)
View John Brassard Profile
2020-02-20 13:18 [p.1314]
Madam Speaker, I will remind the House what the motion says:
That the House stand in solidarity with every elected band council on the Coastal GasLink route, the majority of hereditary chiefs, and the vast majority of the Wet'suwet'en people, who support the Coastal GasLink project, and condemn the radical activists who are exploiting divisions within the Wet'suwet'en community, holding the Canadian economy hostage, and threatening jobs and opportunities in Indigenous communities.
On the issue of jobs for the Wet'suwet'en community, there is a long history of negotiation, of talks between CGL, the Wet'suwet'en community, the 20 first nations communities of elected band leaders and the hereditary chiefs. They have gone on for a long time. Every single one of those 20 communities is in favour of the CGL gas line. They are in favour of it because of the opportunity and prosperity it is going to provide them now and into the future. Many of them will be receiving jobs, and many of them have received jobs, as a result of the CGL pipeline. Revenue will be coming into their communities.
If we talk to members of the House who are part of northern B.C. communities where opportunity is thin for many first nations communities, this is exactly the type of project they have been looking for. It is the type of project they have negotiated and agreed to, because they know it is going to provide opportunity, not just for them today but for young people for generations to come. We, as a Parliament, must be supportive of the independence and autonomy of these first nations to negotiate the type of arrangement they want with CGL.
The challenge exists because there is an anti-pipeline, anti-government movement going on in this country. These people are piggybacking off this issue to raise their issues and their anti-natural-resource agenda. They are doing it right across the country. They are using this situation, this lightning-rod issue, as a template to create illegal blockades. The motion is speaking to them: that the House condemn this anti-government, anti-reason, anti-resource movement that is using this as a lightning rod.
When we speak to members in the Wet'suwet'en community, they talk about their support of this pipeline and the reasons they support it. They have certainly publicly put this out there.
Chief Larry Nooski, of the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation, said:
Coastal GasLink represents a once in a generation economic development opportunity for Nadleh Whut'en First Nation. We negotiated hard...to guarantee that Nadleh people, including youth, have the opportunity to benefit directly and indirectly from the project, while at the same time, ensuring that the land and the water is protected.
Hereditary Chief Helen Michelle, of the Skin Tyee First Nation of the Wet'suwet'en, said, “A lot of the protesters are not even Wet'suwet'en people.” That is the point. “Our own people said go ahead [to Coastal GasLink].” She also said, “We talked with the elders.... We talked and talked, and we kept bringing them back.... We walked the very territory where CGL is going.... We are going to give it the go-ahead.”
If a majority of the Wet'suwet'en people agree with this, why are we pandering to and accepting the type of protests and illegal blockades that are going on across this country? Many of the people doing this are not even affiliated with the Wet'suwet'en people. The activists see this as their template, their opportunity to speak out against the natural resource sector, to speak out against government, to speak out against peace, to speak out against order in this country. That is precisely what they are doing. For the House not to condemn that makes us complicit, as complicit and weak as the government has been throughout this crisis.
I want to talk about the police. There have been a lot of inflammatory comments with respect to the authority of the police. Governments legislate; we pass laws. The courts interpret those laws and it is up to the police to enforce those laws. None of us believes that we live in a police state where the government has the authority or the direction to direct the police on what to do, but when the police receive a court order or a court injunction, the expectation is that they are going to act. There is also an expectation on the part of government and those who are elected in this country at all levels of government that when the police act, we support their action because they are fulfilling their legal obligation to make sure that the rule of law is maintained in this country, as directed by the courts and legislated by Parliament across this country, as well as provincial and municipal bodies.
The police are in an extremely untenable position on this and they have shown extreme patience. However, the bottom line is that we need to maintain peace, order and good government in this country and the rule of law must always be followed.
View Warren Steinley Profile
CPC (SK)
View Warren Steinley Profile
2020-02-19 14:16 [p.1245]
Mr. Speaker, over 100,000 men and women in Alberta and Saskatchewan remain out of work. This crisis was created by the government's malicious indifference towards the energy sector.
However, there is hope on the horizon, in the name of a $20-billion mining project that would see 7,000 direct jobs created and countless more in spinoff and support work. That is why it is so confusing that members of the Prime Minister's own caucus, and I will just point out two, the member for Kingston and the Islands and the member for Toronto—Danforth, are actively promoting a petition calling for the cancellation of this job-creating project.
These reckless actions will not only cost our country thousands of jobs, but will tarnish our country's reputation, again, as a place unwilling to move projects forward.
People in my riding of Regina—Lewvan are looking to the Prime Minister, hoping he will stand in his place today and promise thousands of western Canadians that his government will approve this job-creating project. The Teck Frontier project needs to be approved now. We are hoping the Prime Minister will not show the same weak leadership he showed in the House yesterday.
View Garnett Genuis Profile
CPC (AB)
Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about EI benefits in Alberta. I want to jump off on this point, because we hear over and over again from the government that it is doing things for energy workers, that it extended EI.
Of course, EI should be available for people who are not working, but what we could really do to support energy workers in Alberta is actually establish the conditions where they do not need to collect EI and they could be working. We have members of the Liberal caucus actively speaking out against the Teck Frontier project and supporting petitions opposing that project. We have members of the government caucus as well as other parties who are actively opposing these projects, which have indigenous and community support and are necessary to allow people to get back to work.
I would say to the hon. member, on behalf of the people in Alberta who I represent, that our priority is not EI but it is actually establishing the conditions that allow people to have hope and opportunity through employment.
Would the member recognize that the primary thing he could do for energy workers is to support the development of vital projects, such as Teck Frontier, pipelines and other projects that have community and indigenous support and are in the national interest?
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