Evidence of meeting #11 for Natural Resources in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was forestry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bloc
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
No problem. There was a short delay during the interpretation, but here we go again.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Okay. Thank you.
Madam Clerk, just to clarify, then, Mr. Sidhu called the question. I understood that this meant we needed to vote right away, before we carried on.
The Clerk
I would like to request that we suspend momentarily so that I can verify some information with the chair, if that's all right. I want to make sure I'm giving everybody the correct information.
Thank you.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Mr. Chair and Madam Clerk, we're not really saving any time, so I'd rather just hear what our colleagues have to say in the meantime, instead of suspending. It would be a better use of our time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Okay. You've taken the issue off the table. That's fine.
Shall I move to Ms. Harder, then, Mr. Sidhu? Rachel is next.
Liberal
Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON
Yes, of course I'd like to hear from our Bloc and NDP colleagues as well.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
According to the green book, when we're in the middle of debating a motion, all members with their hands raised or who wish to speak to the debate must be heard before the vote is called. It is not for one member to interject and for the voices of others be squelched.
I will continue. Thank you.
Here in Canada, we face the lowest vaccination rate, the biggest deficit and one of the highest jobless rates in the G7. That's an atrocious record. If you add to that the jobless rate, we see that the Keystone XL project has been kiboshed. What's interesting to me is that the Prime Minister of this country, Mr. Trudeau, had an opportunity to pick up the phone and make a call, to advocate for Canadians, to make sure their livelihoods were protected, and furthermore to insist on the unity of this country, which of course is largely due to the sharing of resources from coast to coast. Energy is the fuel of life. Without it, we cease to be able to function in the current capacity.
It might be nice to think about a world that is entirely green, but that is not reasonable or realistic right now. We must function within the realm of what's possible and the realm of reality, and that is to say that we must continue to develop this resource called oil and gas.
To do that we need a prime minister who is going to contend for its development, because Canadians deserve that. When it comes to Keystone XL, we note that the Prime Minister did not even do so much as pick up the phone and make a call to advocate this project.
Further to that, when he had the opportunity during a scheduled phone call, he did not raise this issue. That's absolutely horrendous. It is a slap in the face to those in the energy sector and to Canadians as a whole who value the unity of this country and who value their day in and day out lifestyle and the things that we get to do.
What's interesting to me is that the Prime Minister had no problem applying some pressure to the former Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to try to persuade her, urge her or even force her to let SNC-Lavalin off the hook when they were under a criminal investigation. He said he was protecting jobs.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
One moment, Mr. May.
Ms. Harder, can you stop for one moment, please?
Liberal
Bryan May Liberal Cambridge, ON
Can I ask the relevance of some of this? We're debating a motion that's on the floor right now. I get that the member wants her clippable moment here to drag out the laundry list of complaints she has, but we have witnesses in front of us. I ask her to please stay relevant to that motion.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thanks, Mr. May.
Ms. Harder, if you could speak to the motion itself, that would make things run a little more smoothly.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Chair, I am talking about Keystone XL and jobs, which has everything to do with the motion.
Liberal
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also point out that we did attempt to bring this motion forward at the last committee. We attempted to do so in a respectful way that honoured the time of our witnesses at that point. Unfortunately, a decision was made that we were not allowed to speak to this motion. Now, in the essence of time and according to our mandate as members of Parliament and as members of the official opposition, we've been left with no choice other than to take advantage of this opportunity that we have here today.
I do extend an apology to the witnesses. I certainly wish this wasn't the case. Hopefully, if we don't have sufficient time today, Mr. Chair, you would agree to bring them back.
That said, I will continue with my speech.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Okay.
Ms. Harder, can I just respond to something you said? Should I interpret what you're saying to mean we're not going to get to the witnesses today? Is that the intention?
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Maloney, I'm going to finish my statements and it's up to those who also have their hands up today as to how long this is going to take.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
As I was stating, with regard to the Keystone XL pipeline, the Prime Minister had a responsibility, an opportunity, to take leadership and advocate for this project, not only for the sake of jobs but for the sake of the unity of this country and our lives and the things that we enjoy doing day in and day out. In losing Keystone XL, we are losing thousands of jobs. We have to ask ourselves what the Prime Minister is doing to fight for those jobs in the same way that he fought for SNC-Lavalin jobs in Quebec.
What is he doing to advocate for the unity of the country? What is he doing to fight for the future of this nation? I would say that he is doing an inadequate job. There's an opportunity here, then, to hear from witnesses and to either verify what I'm stating or to perhaps prove the Prime Minister innocent. Maybe he is doing a lot and it's just unbeknownst to us.
When it comes to this, I think we have an opportunity here as a committee to take on a very important study that contends for the state of unity in this nation and fights for the livelihood of many Canadians. I think this industry is absolutely vital. It is the greatest contributor to our nation's GDP. Why wouldn't we want to have this conversation here at the natural resources committee? I do believe that oil and gas are a natural resource, and I do believe that Keystone XL plays a significant role in their development. It seems consistent, then, with the mandate of this committee, that we would take on this study.
Now, I think that when you look at this situation, you need to consider the impact of its cancellation, and further to that, we also need to figure out what went wrong. Why wasn't the Prime Minister willing to advocate for Canadians on this issue? Why wasn't he willing to pick up the phone, to make a call and to fight for our country? At at the end of the day, I would remind the committee and all Canadians that right now Canada is sitting in a place where we are facing the lowest vaccination rate and the biggest deficit and where we have among the highest jobless rates in the G7.