Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to Motion No. 298, presented by the member of the NDP.
This motion affords us an opportunity to look at our energy supply programs and forces us to reflect on how energy is being supplied to Canadians, instead of focusing on exports and on imagining ourselves as leading exporters of natural gas. The NDP motion makes us reflect on what should be done here before getting the idea that we are leading exporters of natural gas outside Canada, to just about everywhere else, as the Liberal member has just said.
Canada's natural gas reserves are immense. They are beyond anyone's imagination. We are talking 500 to 600 trillion cubic metres. Even someone with the most fertile imagination possible cannot imagine what a volume of 500 to 600 trillion cubic metres would be like. But it does exist.
The NDP's motion comes at an opportune time, as gas prices are at an all-time high, and some countries are being virtually strangled by the oil producing countries. This is an important factor in the issue. I cannot fault the oil exporting countries for setting prices and export quotas, but why should we not defend our interests as they do theirs? There is nothing wrong with that.
Considering that we are talking about 500 to 600 trillion cubic metres of gas in Canada and considering the return on the investment—today it would not be profitable, but in the case of future generations and, perhaps, given a certain kind of blackmail that will become more prevalent from year to year or decade to decade because fossil fuel sources are constantly diminishing and the more we burn the less there is left—we must find the alternatives sources that are out there.
Of course, the basic price, the cost of a cubic metre of natural gas must be taken into account, but there are other considerations including those relating to the environment and to the usefulness of the product. In light of global warming and of what was decided in Rio in the early nineties, that is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would the proposal made by the NDP member not be a step in that direction?
Of course, the cost of extending the natural gas distribution network all over Canada now would be astronomical. However, we must begin to think about these options now, because in 25, 50 or 75 years we will no longer be here, but future generations of Canadians will be at the mercy of countries that may still have oil, but in such reduced quantities that costs will be exorbitant, making that oil inaccessible for countries that are far from the Middle East, such as Canada.
This aspect of the member's proposal is very interesting, and I think the government should look into this question immediately, strike a committee in the House, perhaps even a joint committee with the Senate, call expert witnesses and look at the real issues. That is not what the government does. It reacts to a given situation, but advances nothing. I am not the one saying this. It was Senator Lynch-Staunton who said it in a speech he gave recently, on March 22 or 28, before the Canadian Club.
He said “Our governments react. They take no initiative, they propose nothing. They do not enter into discussion”. This food for thought was provided by a member of a party that is in a considerable minority here in this House.
Governments cannot just watch the train go by. They have to anticipate its passage. They have to be open to the future, stop thinking about what interests them right now without giving a thought to future generations.
It is not surprising that, for example, the Bloc Quebecois is in favour of the New Democratic Party's proposal. In a sovereign Quebec, as it very soon will be I believe, some things will not change. The St. Lawrence will continue to flow from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, even after Quebec secedes. Ships will continue to travel it. The prevailing winds will continue to blow in the same direction.
Quebec is well intentioned. In partnership agreements, in agreements signed after Quebec becomes sovereign, the distribution networks, if there are any, like the one covered by the agreement signed last week between New Brunswick and Quebec, will continue to exist and to be recognized by a sovereign Quebec, as by a Quebec within Canada. The fact of being within Canada at the moment does not strengthen Quebecers' desire to assume their fair share of the costs of just about everything.
In the case before us, there will certainly be international agreements, because Quebec will be a nation by then, a recognized people, a state. There will be international agreements. If the Canadian government were to decide right now to take this sort of step, if it were to decide to look a bit further than the end of its nose and give some thought to North America's future from an energy angle, perhaps it would not hesitate to do some studies, take action, create incentives.
We in the Bloc Quebecois are in agreement. The NDP's suggestion is an excellent one. The government is not being asked to provide subsidies or assistance to companies responsible for extending or maintaining the existing network. At least there would be tax breaks, such as loan guarantees or some sort of commitments to serve heavily dependent communities.
My area, Chambly, is not particularly remote, but I have seen young single mothers faced with an unexpected increase in the price of heating oil. The direct result was that one, two or three children in a household were deprived of things as essential to their existence as food, because the price of heating oil doubled overnight. I have seen this. People I know well, some of my party workers, came and told me. They thought it was terrible, but it was something that happened.
The government has done nothing about this. It has begun to say that it would reduce its tax on a litre of gas if the provinces followed suit. This is a very petty attitude because we know that the provinces need these revenues in order to help people like those in my example who are devastated by a sudden increase in energy costs and who are unable to count on help from the federal government.
Therefore, I think that members of the Bloc Quebecois and I will support the proposal of the NDP member in principle.