Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 12th, 2026

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

That's important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you, Mr. Simard.

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I consider him a full professor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

We're going on to Ms. Stubbs for five minutes.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, you have outlined precisely the—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to make a point of order to say that Mr. Martel is a trainer, but in the minor leagues, rather than the national league.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Colleagues, these are not points of order. We are spinning out of control.

[An hon. member]

Get a grip, Mr. Chair.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I'm glad we're all in a good mood, but can I start from the top?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

I know that Ms. Stubbs has some good questions for the minister, and we have stopped her time, so she can start over.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, you have clearly outlined the catastrophic, tragic loss of those 16 LNG projects that, in fact, have been cancelled over the last 10 years of this Liberal government, with billions of dollars lost. The story that you've told about indigenous people and partners on LNG Canada is, of course, exactly the story of the development of Alberta's oil sands, which I know you know well.

I just want to put on your radar that in the debates on Bill C-5, I raised the point that judicial decisions say the decision-makers must be at the table in a two-way dynamic with indigenous communities. I proposed amendments to safeguard this issue in Bill C-5. The Liberals defeated my amendments. I fear that decisions that are going to come out of Bill C-5 will be challenged in court, precisely because the Crown is not taking on its duty to consult to get these projects done in a good way. I just want to flag that for you.

Since you mentioned real proponents and real projects, I need to get back to the issue we discussed before that you raised. The trouble for Canada, which is urgent, is that 21 real projects are stuck at the Canada Energy Regulator right now, eight projects are stuck at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and 43 real projects with real proponents are stuck at the Impact Assessment Agency.

You said during the debates in June on Bill C-5 that this bill “allows us to do all the things we need to do in one centralized place, under one set of timelines, and to take those learnings to go back and deal with the other acts over time.” Since 72 projects are in limbo right now with only 11 referrals and no clear path to construction in sight, when will the laws and regs that are listed in Bill C-5, which you've designed to do a workaround, be fixed for everyone—all proponents in all sectors—to attract investment and jobs to Canada and give confidence in Canada as a place to invest and build in?

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

From the homework I did in advance, my understanding, from an export licence perspective, is that there have been 3,600 export licences issued by the CER. The vast majority of them are regular export licences, and they get approved, on average, within two days.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

That's not referring to the projects and proponents that I am, but—

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

There are 35 major projects that have been put forward through the CER. They take, on average, 180 days. What I was told is that 100% of them cleared within 180 days.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Here's my concern. I know that every Liberal at this table is new. I've been here since 2015, and I led the debate on Bill C-69. There were claims that there were concrete timelines in that bill. There were none. I tried to put concrete timelines in Bill C-5, but there are none. This is why Canadians and Conservatives who agree with you that Canada faces a crisis are very concerned about this clarity.

To that end, and since you're mentioning new projects, in December you announced an MOU to work towards a Pacific pipeline. I think most Canadians and Albertans expect this work is happening. Can you update us on the federal Crown's indigenous consultation to date?

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

The MPO is waiting for the proponent to come forward. When the proponent comes forward and says they want to move forward, then the consultation will start from the MPO perspective.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

This is exactly the challenge—

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

What I can tell you—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

—because judicial precedents and your own law say that cabinet is the decision-maker. It can't be the MPO's job.

I need to move on, Minister, with my limited time.

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Okay.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

You mentioned competitiveness with the United States, which Conservatives have been pushing Liberals to pay attention to for the last 10 years. Conservatives want Canadians to beat the United States, but of course, now the U.S. is both Canada's biggest customer and competitor.

I have a question for the long term that I think all of us should be grasped with.

What Canadians should be focusing on is what Canada can control, not unpredictable or hostile actions from anyone else. Here's the issue. Your government has the ability to allow Canada to compete by removing the federal costs and red tape placed on Canadian workers and businesses, like the oil and gas cap, the federal industrial carbon tax, drilling and tanker bans, gas and diesel vehicle bans and innovation censorship laws. The United States—our biggest customer and competitor—does not impose any of these costs or red tape on their private sector proponents, entrepreneurs and investors.

When will you actually deal with all of these issues—some of which are also in Bill C-5—so that Canadian entrepreneurs and business owners can compete with the United States and we can be self-reliant, affordable and secure?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Minister, give a short answer, if you can.

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

We are controlling what we can control. We've set two years to a conditions document. We're doing “one project, one review”.

The Americans, in my opinion, are taking an unsustainable approach. Capital providers look at the U.S. going from the IRA at one extreme to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the other extreme. You cannot allocate capital when you have that kind of see-sawing in regulatory frameworks.

We've provided, I think, a far more—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Right now, the United States is the world's leading exporter of LNG, so they figured something out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Stubbs.

We have to move on to Mr. Clark, who's going to be wrapping up this second round.

Go ahead, Mr. Clark.