Thank you, Chair.
I would also like to add my voice to supporting this motion and what Monsieur Simard is arguing in terms of the importance for us to all unite about this concern that the independent, non-partisan, non-political Parliamentary Budget Officer has expressed.
I would say this to my colleague Mr. Jowhari: You made a comment about wanting to learn from this about the future, but my colleague Jeremy Patzer has just outlined the combination of the carbon tax; various anti-development policies; Bill C-69, when Conservatives warned about all of the things the Supreme Court said and which has still not been sufficiently remedied, including the job-killing oil and gas cap; unilateral offshore drilling bans; and a tanker ban that the federal government is being sued over by the most locally impacted indigenous community, the Lax Kw'alaams.
All of these things together mean that there will not be more pipelines proposed by the private sector in this country because, unfortunately, after nine years, the consequences of the Liberals' policy agenda are an absolute collapse in confidence in Canada as a place where the private sector can build big infrastructure and major projects, where they can create jobs and powerful paycheques and send all this revenue into multiple levels of government to provide the programs and services that all Canadians in every part of this country value.
It absolutely does behoove us, I think, to act on the concerns and to show as a committee that we also share concerns about taxpayers being made whole and being paid back for the tax dollars spent on a pipeline that never had to happen and never should have happened if the federal government had just given the private sector proponent the legal and political certainty it needed to go ahead and build the Trans Mountain expansion that their own government approved.
They keep saying it's a pipeline built for Alberta, but they approved it in the national interest. That's what it's about. Then, of course, it dithered and delayed and didn't actually take the action that the federal government had, which could have allowed the private sector to go ahead and build it on their dime, on schedule. It would be fully functional.
Here we are. It's half a decade late. The cost increase to build it has risen 360% since the original estimations. The PBO and various witnesses have clearly demonstrated that there remains uncertainty for the kinds of things that purchasers would need to know about, such as the tolls, which won't be set until 2025.
Also, with respect to colleagues, yes, we did this study on the Trans Mountain expansion, but they may recall that we actually didn't even have all of the witnesses here who are proponents, who are groups interested in potentially purchasing the pipeline. It's really not true that we did a comprehensive thorough analysis at that committee. It's just not the case.
None of this had to happen or go this way, but that is the mess the Liberals have made. They can lie in it and answer to their own voters about the collision in the things that they say they care about. I'm sure Monsieur Simard and Mr. Angus will have more to say about that.
These are all the reasons that Conservatives absolutely support Monsieur Simard's motion and believe this has to happen. I think it would be shocking that there's anybody elected and sitting around this table who doesn't think that we should take very seriously what the independent non-partisan, non-political budget watchdog has said, since it is the Liberal government that has put taxpayers in this position and doesn't seem to have been able to figure it out or to control the cost in the Crown corporation that it runs and continues to put money into. Therefore, we do have to have—
Oh, I'm sorry for tapping the microphone if that had an impact on the translators.
This makes the point that we should support our concerns being expressed and we should heed the words of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. That's at least a core responsibility that we owe every single Canadian, since the federal government forced them to be owners of major energy infrastructure whether those Canadians liked it or not.
Again, Conservatives believe in expanding Canadian energy, in ensuring there is crucial energy infrastructure built by the private sector in all directions, ensuring that we expand Canadian energy products and technology to our allies and around the world to help lower emissions globally and to help energy security domestically in Canada, and also energy security for our allies, who clearly, in the various conflicts going around the world, need Canada more than ever and keep asking for Canada, except the Prime Minister keeps turning away.
For all those reasons, we do support Mr. Simard's motion out of our concern that taxpayers deserve these answers too.