Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here today from Fort McMurray.
It's frustrating beyond belief that we're sitting here debating a motion that is so anti-Alberta. I know that members opposite did point of order after point of order the last time we met, trying to justify that having a massive preamble that talks about Alberta only in a negative light is somehow not attacking my province—your province, Mr. Chair. However, it is.
I'm not sure how members opposite can sit there, especially members from the Liberal Party, and continually attack the province of Alberta and just treat it like a cash cow. That's exactly how so many people feel. I know that when I'm home in Alberta, talking to people on the streets, out in the grocery stores and throughout our communities, I hear that they feel like the Liberal government doesn't listen to them. They feel like they are the whipping boy for.... It will very happily take the resource money, but they don't feel like they're supported in any other way by the government.
This motion furthers that, because it continues a negative tone with regard to the province of Alberta, honing in on abandoned and orphaned wells only in Alberta and not even going off fact. It's not like the preamble uses verified facts that came from, perhaps, the Alberta Energy Regulator or other sources. It's literally from a news article, and it has charged language.
However, this is what we've come to expect from a government that shows no mercy when it comes to our province. It's frustrating how it continually puts Alberta in such a negative light. This is one of the challenges that we're going to continue facing on this committee as long as that preamble is part of this motion. It is something that tells every single person in Alberta that they are welcome to work in the energy industry as long as the government is getting some resources revenue from it. However, the government doesn't really respect them.
I don't think that's the kind of message we should be sending to Albertans. That's not the kind of message we should be sending to Canadians. We should be working to unite people, not divide them. This motion, from its very preamble, seeks to divide. It doesn't seek to unite. It's very frustrating as we sit here.
I will continue debating this because, frankly, Mr. Chair, this is an attack on your province. This isn't just an attack on people in Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. This is an attack on energy workers who work in Calgary. Many people actually commute regularly from Calgary to the oil sands, whether they be in Fort McMurray, in Cold Lake or in Bonnyville. There are a lot of people who work throughout Alberta in the energy industry and live in Edmonton or Calgary. However, specifically, they live in Calgary. I talk to many of them on a fairly regular basis. This is one of the things that they find so frustrating. They find that this Liberal government, led by Justin Trudeau, has passed its expiry date and doesn't seem to be interested in finding solutions. Instead, it focuses on dividing Canadians.
This motion here, with the preamble that is such an affront to Alberta, is yet another proof point that this government isn't listening. If Liberal members were really serious, they wouldn't have done point of order after point of order because we were upset that their preamble did, in fact, attack our province of Alberta. They would simply have tried to find some way of not doing it to begin with.
Once you do it, however, you need to apologize, and you need to make things better. There has been none of that from your government, Mr. Chair, which is really sad for the people of Alberta. I think this is one of these places where it is so incumbent on us as legislators to make sure that we are doing things and are keeping in mind the words and the actions we use.
Frankly, this is not something that I can support. This is not something that Conservatives can support. This is not something that Albertans support, because this is a problem.
Until that preamble is removed in its entirety, there is no way we can actually have a fulsome, real conversation on the substance of this motion. The preamble attacks the very province I come from and that you come from, Mr. Chair.
As such, I'm going to cede the floor to my colleagues, but I would urge every single person to vote against this motion. It is not a motion that's been put forward in good faith. If it was put forward in good faith, I'm telling you right now it's not being received in good faith; therefore, it needs to change.
I'm going to cede the floor.
I was wondering if you could confirm what the speaking order is.