Thank you, Mr. Chair, for giving me the opportunity, and for not cutting me off yet. The last time I was here at this committee, I was unable to place a point of order or even get a few words out, so I appreciate your giving me the opportunity. I get to deliver some remarks today.
I see Mr. Caputo is here from Kamloops. Mr. Motz is here from my home province of Alberta, and Mr. Barrett is strolling back into the room with other colleagues as well. He's from the province of Ontario, the province we're sitting in right now. We're here in the beautiful city of Ottawa, representing Canadians from coast to coast to coast in this committee room.
I came in today and heard about some of the antics at this committee. What really concerns me about decorum, as was raised by my colleagues Mr. Fisher and Ms. Damoff, is the partisan attack against one of the members of this committee.
It's extremely unfortunate that Conservative members think it's okay to attack parliamentarians and attack one of my colleagues. As many of my colleagues have said, it's quite harmful for the individual. Inciting this very toxic behaviour in these committee rooms and in our Parliament is a constant behaviour among Conservative politicians. We see it day in and day out.
I can tell you, Mr. Caputo, from my time as chair of the natural resources committee—the committee I still chair—that last year we saw Conservative members turn that committee into one that just spent time targeting individuals. Mr. Villemure, you may be aware that Ms. DeBellefeuille, a member of your party, the Bloc, was in the middle of voting and was threatened. She was unable to participate in debate or hear the chair—me—and the clerk read the roll, and then was threatened by members of the Conservative Party. We should all remember how Conservative members of the natural resource committee—members who had subbed in—threatened a member of Parliament who just wanted to be able to hear the translation.
You also may recall how that all started. It was the Conservative members' opposition to a number of bills. One bill was for the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act. It was Bill C-49, which is going to open up billions of dollars in investment for our offshore wind industry. As we know, Conservatives are opposed to clean energy projects in this nation, whether it's on Canada's east coast or.... The beautiful provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia have an opportunity to build prosperity. Why are there delay tactics? Why is there the targeting of members of Parliament and committees, when all they're here to do is work on behalf of their constituents?
In my home province of Alberta, we've seen attacks by the Conservative Alberta provincial government on renewable energy. If you don't know, we've done some work on this at the natural resources committee. They're saying we're up to $33 billion in lost investment.
Mr. Chair, you'll understand the narrative of where I'm going once I get to it a little later on and why this is so important for what you're discussing today.
Projects are being delayed or cancelled, and investment is leaving our beautiful province of Alberta. Southern Alberta—where Mr. Motz is from, just a little south of where I'm from—is one of the sunniest parts of the country. We have an opportunity, whether it be the town of Cardston in that county or in other counties in southern Alberta that have relied on energy as a source to get funding so their communities can grow and prosper. We're now seeing many communities concerned about the cutbacks they're going to have to make to infrastructure projects because the funding is no longer available or the royalties they're hoping to get from these new clean energy projects just won't be available.
Why? It's because of a partisan ideological attack on renewable energy across this country and in my home province of Alberta by Conservative politicians. Albertans are asking, how does that happen? Let me tell you how it happens: We have an ideological premier who has a war on clean energy. Well, how are they solving the problems of the province of Alberta by not bringing on new investment opportunities, good-paying jobs and new energy sources?