Thank you very much.
I appreciate that, Mr. Chair, to set the stage, as it were.
I'd like to welcome my colleague Mr. Kurek, who is joining us today. I believe Mr. Genuis will be joining us as well in a little bit.
As I left off, a politician often has the choice—and a leader, a prime minister, even more so—between being a statesman and being a politician. A statesman will always do what's in the best interests of the nation. A politician will sometimes take the opportunity to score political points. I think we've seen what course Prime Minister Trudeau has taken. As a member of Parliament, but more importantly as a Canadian, I do find that very disappointing.
It is, of course, a legacy. As Mr. Ibbitson said in his article, in 2015 the Liberals actually came in with some representation from the west, but that's been quickly being eliminated. In politics, things can change in the blink of an eye, but as of now it appears as though if the election were held today, there would be very, very limited representation from the Liberal Party and it's not healthy.
We really want to have at least two national parties that can speak for the entire country. I suppose the Prime Minister has calculated that there's some type of electoral victory he can gain by disenfranchising Alberta, by picking a fight with the premier and by treating Albertans unequally when it comes to the carbon tax exemption. I can't for the life of me honestly understand even the politics of how they're going to gain any popularity from picking a fight with the premier.
Even in this committee, unfortunately, members have chosen to pick a fight. Conservatives are very agreeable, actually, to having an amended motion that would say something to the effect that we would encourage Albertans to stay in the CPP, but instead, they've chosen politically charged language naming their premier specifically and sort of creating a political firestorm. Maybe they want to have stories written about it. I can't guess why, but all it will do to Albertans, I'm sure, is infuriate them that once again the Liberal government is choosing not to acknowledge them.
It's been going on for about, what, 50 years, Damien, that Alberta's...? It goes back to the first Trudeau and the national energy plan. I know I said that and I know it's a swear word to my two Albertans here, but—