Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the comments of my colleague, the parliamentary secretary. He talked about indigenous participation. Let me challenge him on the indigenous participation that was part of Keystone XL and the five native groups in Saskatchewan and Alberta that were participating in that new project to get Canadian oil to markets in the United States, which would have been more env…
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Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister tell Canadians what he means when his government says that Line 5 is different from Keystone XL? Is it different because the Minister of Natural Resources is paying more attention this time? Is it different because he might actually engage the U.S. administration on this issue? Is it different because it involves Canadian jobs outside of western Canada? Keystone…
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Madam Speaker, when I chose to run as a candidate for Parliament, a decision that began three years ago, the number one issue facing this country was our growing inability to get infrastructure built, particularly pipelines for our country's valuable resources. Western Canadians were facing a misguided federal government that believed it could continue to speak out of both sides of its mouth on pi…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I will appeal this as well, on behalf of the member who wanted to be seen. You do not recognize members, Mr. Speaker, whom you cannot see when they are voting, so this does seem to be a bit of a disconnect. You also rule when our microphones are not in the right place so we can be heard for interpretation. Therefore, it does seem to be a bit of an outlier i…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the third petition I am presenting today is from Canadians who draw to the attention of the House that Canadian oil is produced to the highest environmental standards in the world, and the government needs to acknowledge the industry's pioneering efforts. Oil sands producers reduced their GHG emissions intensity by 28% from 2000 to 2017, and oil and gas is Canada's leading export and …
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition I have the pleasure to present today is from Canadians who realize the current pandemic is causing significant disruptions to business models. The petitioners remember that during the 2019 federal election, the environment minister at the time assured Canadians that the carbon tax would be frozen at $50 a tonne annually as of 2022 and that the Liberal government ha…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to present three petitions in the House today. The first petition calls on the House of Commons to recognize the reduction of global net carbon emissions is a critical endeavour in our fight against climate change. As the government committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 and furthermore committed to exceed Canada's 2030 goal by introducing new carbon-reducing …
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Mr. Speaker, media reports from yesterday say that the Prime Minister will not be raising any specific energy projects when he meets with the President today. No, this is not a Seinfeld episode. We do not need a meeting about nothing when our public health and economic security are at risk. The Michigan governor is threatening to cut off Enbridge Line 5 in contravention of an international treaty.…
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Mr. Speaker, if ministers were rewarded for words, this minister would be an outperformer. However, the government's results on energy are dismal. On Trans Mountain, its proponents left Canada, and it is now years behind schedule. Northern gateway was cancelled. Energy east was cancelled. Teck Frontier was cancelled. Keystone XL was cancelled while the government sat on its hands. If we leave Line…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have some questions regarding my colleague's comments, one of which was the previous U.S. president creating fears and anxieties in his riding, which were leading to trade disputes. I wonder if the member can extrapolate that feeling and think about what happened with Keystone XL when, in the first day of the new President's tenancy in the office, he cancelled an agreement that wo…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, let me take this opportunity to salute Canada's post-secondary students. I am the father of two students who completed their university studies during this pandemic. I can see how our current times have affected studies, celebrations, mental health, careers and life plans. Post-secondary students should take heart that this is a pause in what will be a big future for their generatio…
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Madam Speaker, what people call subsidies these days is anything offered at the end of the day. The oil and gas industry, the industry alone and not the employees, has contributed $600 billion over the last 18 years toward Canadian taxes. That is not a subsidy. If they whittle it down and say here is an incentive to drill in certain areas versus others, they are still contributing a significant ba…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. The environmental arrangements between our two countries are going to lead to what is called carbon leakage. If we proceed in a direction in which have pressing environmental issues but we have one standard and the U.S. has another, we are going to bleed jobs to the United States. One of the things we need to do in our relationship with the Uni…
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Madam Speaker, I agree that we have progressed. He was 11 years old when that free trade agreement was signed, and the university he went to was paid for by the prosperity brought in by free trade. The health care we have enjoyed to this point in time has been purchased through the prosperity of free trade. These are linchpin moments in the country. I really appreciate that your party now embraces…
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Brandon—Souris and look forward to his comments. In relation to the motion on the table today, when I look at the Canada-U.S. relationship I think it is important for us to look at what has happened along the way that has led us to where we are today. I go back to a time years ago when we first structured the initial Canada-United…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, those are verbal assurances and verbal assurances leading to no results are not worth the salaries of the storytellers hired to write them. What Canada needs is action, not stories. Canadian energy workers are receiving an ongoing legacy of failure from the government: northern gateway, energy east, Trans Mountain, Teck Frontier, Keystone XL and now Enbridge Line 3 and Line 5. When wi…
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Mr. Speaker, Enbridge is spending $8 billion modernizing Line 3, Canada’s main oil transportation link to the U.S. since it was approved by President Obama in 2016. The final section to be upgraded is being challenged by the same activists that moved the new U.S. President to cancel Keystone XL. The Prime Minister recently spoke with the U.S. administration about energy security without any specif…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to ask my colleague questions about the file she is very engrossed in right now, which is air travel between our two nations. We know air travel does not happen on one side of the border only and that we are interconnected in our transportation networks. As this motion is actually about how our two nations interact, could she comment on the failings we are currently seeing on…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague who is always a joy to work with on the natural resources committee, but I am going to question his virtuousness around planting trees. We have an industry that plants 600 million trees per year. It regularly plants three trees for every tree it cuts down. The cycle of carbon in a tree, of course, is such that the tree actually absorbs carbon in its mid-life. It…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have heard, in several responses, about how much the government has done for the energy industry over the pandemic period and the price we received from our other oil suppliers around the world. Nevertheless, going forward we keep failing on all of these energy files. We have talked about Keystone XL. We have talked about the Teck Frontier project. We are now talking about Enbridg…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the government has allowed this reduced version of democracy to continue in these difficult times. Many of my constituents believe that our work here is fundamental, even in these times, to ensuring that our democratic traditions of responsible government and accountability in this House are upheld. As with so many matters, much water has passed under the bridge in…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a good storyteller, but never fails to disappoint on results. For months, we have been calling on him to take action on Keystone XL. The end results are starkly clear. Now, the governor of Michigan wishes to cancel Enbridge's Line 5 easement, which would seriously affect workers and consumers in Ontario and Quebec. Since this outcome would negatively impact milli…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks a big game, but he is collecting failures at every turn. He is failing on indigenous reconciliation, the environment and job creation when he fails to support Keystone XL with the new U.S. administration. Everyone knows pipelines are safer and cleaner than rail to transport oil and gas. Designed to achieve net-zero emissions, Keystone XL ticked all the boxes, …
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Mr. Speaker, we know when the Prime Minister wants a file to go his way by the effort he puts into it, such as with SNC-Lavalin, when he bent every rule to save jobs at one company. Surely Keystone XL workers deserve more than a quick chat. Canada is facing another energy crisis. This one could hit Ontario and Quebec hard. Michigan wants to kill Enbridge Line 5. This pipeline supplies Ontario's an…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I am thankful on behalf of all people in the western Canadian resource industry, my constituents and all Canadians of good faith who still believe that this House is a place where debates on this country's most important matters should be held openly. I am also honoured to be here speaking among a handful of my colleagues tonight while representing the deep desire of so many of our …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for his question. In my opinion, this is a provincial jurisdiction. The issue with provincial jurisdiction in diversifying the economy is something that the Canadian government should probably not tread on in this case, and I am certain my colleague in the Bloc Québécois would respect that as well. I think the other point we want to make …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I really appreciate a lot of the things my colleague said when he talked about economic viability, because economic viability is what puts these projects on the page, first of all. What makes things uneconomically viable in Canada is a lack of a regulatory outcome, which we have here, although it is a border issue. That is what is holding projects back in Canada more than anything e…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, yes, we are very focused on how we actually decarbonize the economy, including in Alberta in the energy sector. I think all efforts to advance that cause are being ignored by my colleague in the other party. I really would hope he pays attention to all the progress that is being made in industries across Canada in addressing decarbonization, and looking at how that actually affects …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, the issue here is accountability. We talk about the environment all the time. We talk about taking environmental steps, including getting more world-class environmental product to market, but we run into walls because we do not advocate effectively enough for that environmental solution. Would the member take it upon himself as a member of the governing party caucus to make that point…
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