Natural Resources Committee on Oct. 16th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

I would ask all members—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

When they stop acting like oil and gas lobbyists, they can speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Mr. Kruger. The time is up.

I would ask all members not to speak over each other, because it is very difficult for the interpreters trying to interpret in two different languages. Please make your comments and statements, and then give an opportunity for the witnesses to respond.

Time was up, but you may get a chance, through further conversation, to provide comments to that.

Thank you, Mr. Simard.

We'll move on to Mr. Angus for two and a half minutes.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm only married to an Albertan, so I'm going to turn the floor over to someone who is an Albertan.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Angus.

I am an Albertan, and I'm a mother. I agree with some of the testimony that the oil and gas sector has contributed greatly to the Canadian economy, but I will say it's been decades since we have known that it is also boiling our planet.

Mr. Kruger, Suncor's profits last year—not revenues but profits—were more than $27 billion, and it looks like it's going to be another year for record profits. This year, there was over $5 billion in profit recorded for the second quarter alone, yet you cut contracts with Canadian companies last year, and you are laying off another 1,500 workers this year.

How many of those contractors and how many of those workers were Albertans?

[Rich Kruger]

I will gladly answer your question, but first I have to correct something.

Our profits last year were not the numbers you quoted. They're publicly reported. Our profits over the last—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

That's where we got those numbers, sir.

[Rich Kruger]

You might want to go back there.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Regardless, the profits were in the billions of dollars.

How many Albertans will lose their jobs because of not only your massive profits but also the cuts to workers?

[Rich Kruger]

First of all, what you're referring to is that we are going through a reduction in 1,500 workers this year. It's certainly not pleasant. It's not anything you want to do with employees as you're affecting people's lives and their livelihoods.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I just asked how many were Albertans, sir.

[Rich Kruger]

I don't have that for Alberta. I can get it province by province, if you'd like.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I would certainly like that. Thank you.

Are you planning to cut your investment in Alberta even further, and how many more Canadians do you anticipate will lose their jobs over the next five years?

[Rich Kruger]

Our investments will look at where they can go to the highest and best use, whatever province they happen to be in. In fact, if anything, we're spending more money in Alberta this year than we have in any of the last three years. I know that for a fact.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I didn't ask how much money you were spending. I asked how many jobs you anticipated losing in Alberta in the next five years.

I also want to know, with these record profits that we have, where are your shareholders located and how many of them are Canadian?

[Rich Kruger]

Our shareholders are tens of thousands of Canadian families. They're men and women who rely on our stock performance to fund their RSPs, their pensions—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

What percentage is Canadian?

[Rich Kruger]

I'll finish my question. The vast majority of our—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

That's not a percentage.

[Rich Kruger]

It's 52%.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

The vast majority is 52%.

[Rich Kruger]

Compared with any other jurisdiction, yes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Wow.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you. The time is up. Two and a half minutes go very quickly.

I'll now go to Mr. Dreeshen for five minutes.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

It's an honour to be here to listen to what you have to say, Mr. Kruger.

I have a couple of things that I really want to talk about.

I know the energy sector takes a lot of punishment from our environmental activist sector. As an Albertan and someone who is proud of the contributions and the progress the energy sector has made in reducing emissions and developing cutting-edge technology, it always pains me that we need to fight so hard for something that our global allies are begging for in order to stabilize their energy needs. We do a pretty poor job of tracking full life-cycle impacts of energy developments, so I find it hard to believe that our government truly has a grip on what our position is.

You spoke of the wind projects that you have. Earlier, we had folks from ATCO. I asked a question about how much money is set aside once these plants are decommissioned, so that we know the sites are going to remain environmentally friendly and so on.

I'm wondering if you have that number from the plants you have in Alberta.