Evidence of meeting #116 for Natural Resources in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael Vandergrift  Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
Glenn Hargrove  Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources
Rinaldo Jeanty  Assistant Deputy Minister, Lands and Minerals Sector, Department of Natural Resources
Erin O'Brien  Assistant Deputy Minister, Fuels Sector, Department of Natural Resources

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

—for a member of a party that actually could never get a pipeline to tidewater built to actually be saying that we're somehow at fault—

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

Four pipelines were built in Canada under the former Conservative government.

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

—for the fact that there's actually still a significant amount of oil going to the United States. We are the first government that actually was able to get a pipeline built, and that's because we respect the environment—

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

You actually killed the two private sector proposals to export markets that were proposed under the former Conservative government.

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

—and respect indigenous people, unlike the Harper Conservative governments, which did not respect—

The Chair Liberal George Chahal

Minister Wilkinson, I'm going to ask you to hold there.

Colleagues, we need to have one individual speaking at a time, the individual asking the question and then the minister with an opportunity to answer the question. It makes it very difficult for our interpreters to interpret when we have multiple microphones on and multiple folks speaking.

Please feel free to ask your question, but please provide the minister enough time to provide a response.

I'll go back to you.

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

That's great.

The question was this: How many countries have asked Canada for LNG?

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

There have been six LNG projects that have actually proceeded to the decision stage during the nine years we've been in government.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

How many countries have asked Canada for LNG?

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

Five have been approved. The one that was rejected was rejected by the Government of Quebec.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

The answer is that seven countries have asked for LNG from Canada: Germany, Poland, Japan, Ukraine, South Korea, Greece and Latvia. Your prime minister and your government said that there is no business case, so, in fact, Canada is exporting zero LNG right now.

However, in the exact same time that you guys have been in government, the U.S., of course, has skyrocketed ahead to export LNG. Then the Biden administration announced a pause. You still dithered and delayed and roadblocked Canadian LNG out of Canada. Mexico went to race ahead. Now, in addition to the tariffs that Trump is threatening on Canada, he has also said that they are going to ramp up exporting LNG again.

How on earth, Minister, can you justify your anti-development and anti-energy policy that sent half a trillion dollars in businesses and investment from Canada to the United States and that creates jobs, builds critical infrastructure and helps exports from the United States while landlocking Canada, killing our GDP, doubling housing costs, doubling food bank usage, skyrocketing the costs of all essentials and killing Canadian jobs?

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

I mean, it would be nice if you would actually use some facts, Mrs. Stubbs. There are three LNG projects that are actually in the process of being built right now. One is LNG Canada Phase 1.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

That's correct, which means that none is being exported.

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

The second is wood fibre. The third is cedar LNG.

With respect to the east coast opportunity—

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

Zero is being exported.

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

—I would suggest that you read the newspaper, because it was Repsol and TC Energy that actually said that there was no economics, because the infrastructure costs of getting that amount of gas to the east coast actually means that the price of gas would not be competitive. That was a business decision by businesses.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

You killed pipelines sitting on the east coast.

The Chair Liberal George Chahal

Thank you, Mrs. Stubbs.

Thank you, Minister Wilkinson.

We will now go to our next speaker, who is Ms. Lapointe.

Ms. Lapointe, you have five minutes.

Viviane LaPointe Liberal Sudbury, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I was pleased to hear you mention critical minerals funding in your opening remarks.

Last week, I met with the Mining Association of Canada, and they highlighted the importance of de-risking Canadian critical minerals projects through a lot of our tax credits, such as the critical minerals exploration tax credit, the clean technology manufacturing investment tax credit and the mineral exploration tax credit. They specifically talked about their members' frustrations with the obstruction in the House of Commons that's happening right now, holding up these tax credits. I told them I would speak with you about their concerns at the first available opportunity, so here I am, asking you what the consequences are to the sector and Canada's economic growth, as well as overall, if these tax credits continue to be held up?

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

I very much share the concerns of the Mining Association of Canada. These are measures that are designed to help produce critical minerals that our allies need and to help process critical minerals. That's important in the fight against climate change. It's important to help our allies from an overall energy security perspective, and it's critically important in terms of reducing dependence and reliance on China. These have been delayed for months now because of the Conservatives' obstruction in the House. These will help our mining sector to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity. It's pretty shocking that, at a time when the cost of living is up, the Conservatives would block measures that will create such good-paying jobs and, to be honest, would aid the Government of China in terms of increasing its dominance with respect to critical minerals and critical minerals processing.

One of the things that are in supplementary estimates (B) is money for the Saskatchewan Research Council to actually develop a process for processing rare earth elements, which are all processed in China right now. It is ridiculous, the kinds of things that are being blocked by the obstruction of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Viviane LaPointe Liberal Sudbury, ON

Thank you, Minister.

I'm a member of the defence committee. We had the Minister of National Defence appear at our committee meeting last week to speak about the critical importance of moving forward with supplementary estimates (B).

One of the estimates items I noticed for Defence is a transfer from Defence to NRCan to support the Canadian safety and security program. It's my understanding that your department needs this funding to purchase equipment in support of a nuclear emergency response.

Can you elaborate on the equipment that is required and why it is so important?

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

I'm sorry. I missed the beginning of that question.

Viviane LaPointe Liberal Sudbury, ON

The supplementary estimates (B) for National Defence would see a transfer of monies from National Defence to NRCan to support the Canadian safety and security program.

Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC

The Department of National Defence and NRCan work very closely together, and increasingly so, in the area of critical minerals. People often think of critical minerals in the context of battery-related minerals, in particular, or uranium and potash. However, an enormous number of critical minerals—often rare-earth elements—are significantly important in the context of defence applications. An example is scandium, which the Americans need for their defence program.

Some of the transfers that go on between the departments are about aiding the work NRCan is doing, as we are the lead with respect to critical minerals. It is extremely important, again, that we pass these supplementary estimates through the House so we can continue the work that is critical, yes, to fighting climate change. It's also for the economic future of this country and to ensure we are not so dependent upon China.

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB

You've been in power for 10 years.