Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate your giving me a couple of minutes.
Over the last year and a half, I've really enjoyed working with this committee. I think we work well together, and I respect each and every one of the members of this committee.
I think that's one of the reasons I want to speak out today, as I was extremely disappointed by an aspect of the budget yesterday. I really want to raise this amongst the colleagues I have here and just give notice that I will be putting forward a motion to ask the Minister of Natural Resources to come to committee and explain his rationale for changing the Canadian exploration expense tax credit for exploration drilling.
During our mining study, we heard how important flow-through shares were, and how vital the mining exploration tax credit was to ensure that projects move ahead. Not two weeks later we have a budget basically ripping that same tax credit, that same opportunity for exploration in the oil and gas sector, taking it from 100% down to 30%.
I know many of us maybe don't quite understand the magnitude and the ramifications of that decision, but for all intents and purposes, it will stifle any future development in the oil and gas sector.
We have a province—my home province, obviously—with 100,000 unemployed energy workers right now. We were really looking forward to something in this budget that would kick-start Alberta. This does the exact opposite.
To say my phone hasn't been ringing off the hook over the last 12 or 14 hours and my emails going quite hot and heavy would be an understatement. This is devastating to Alberta at a time we need some help. I don't want to make light of it in any way, but the Prime Minister said not very long ago that he was looking at phasing out the oil sands. This is step one of phasing out our energy sector in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and B.C.
I know my colleague, T.J. Harvey, and I respect that this also has an impact on New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada and those provinces who rely in the future perhaps of energy east, but I also know how many people from eastern Canada fly west to work in Alberta's oil sands and Alberta's energy sector.
I don't know how to put it any other way, but I was absolutely shocked to see this in the budget.
I'm really asking you guys on the other side of the table who have the minister's ear...and I'm disappointed that our parliamentary secretary isn't here. This is something we never talked about in this committee. This committee is supposed to drive policy when it comes to natural resources, and none of us ever talked about this being part of the budget in the entire 18 months we've been here together. We certainly never heard it from any witness we had for the oil and gas and mining study. In fact, it was the exact opposite.
I'm looking to you guys to get the ear of your parliamentary secretary and the minister and ask why was this decision made.
I'm going to be putting a motion forward when we return from the break asking the minister to come here to committee and explain the rationale for why this decision was made, why you're kicking our energy sector down when all we really are looking for is some help—the exact opposite.
This was the economic engine for this country. We heard today there were bill a trillion dollars in resource revenue over the next 20 years.