Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to the hon. member's speech. He has talked about the role of government in the energy sector and has spoken about the importance of government being able to play an effective role on behalf of the people of Canada.
I want to put to him that, as a result of some decisions his own government has enthusiastically supported, particularly around the adoption of NAFTA, and now its proposal for the FTAA, it has taken away precisely the tools that government needs to effectively assist the people of this country in the energy sector and, for that matter, in many other sectors. I would like the member to comment on this.
The Prime Minister was bragging recently about the continental energy pact. He talked about how he had educated President George Bush about the fact that we have tar sands. My God, we have tar sands. The Prime Minister said “He didn't know two months ago. I'm a good teacher”. He may be a good teacher but he is an even better person to sell off our resources and the control that Canadians should have over our own destiny when it comes to energy resources and other resources.
Does the member not recognize that as a result of the NAFTA provisions, which now exist, that we are not in a position to decide as Canadians that if, for example, there are energy shortages in this country that we will give preference to the people of Canada? It is not exactly a revolutionary concept, is it, that when Canadians want to have access to their own energy resources they should be given preferential access to them?
Under NAFTA and under the FTAA, as proposed and enthusiastically supported by the government, we have lost that right.
I want to ask the hon. member to explain how it is that he is so concerned about Canada's ability to protect our own energy resources when his government sold out that ability by adopting NAFTA and now proposing the FTAA.