Debates of Jan. 28th, 2016

Opposition Motion—Energy East Pipeline Project

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I was delighted to hear my colleague refer to the improvements made in our responsible resource legislation with regard to improving both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's processes and the National Energy Board's processes, which did not diminish but actually made more effective both the hearings and the consultations. We put more money into budgets to enable more people, more appropriate groups, to consult.

I believe that the Prime Minister and the minister know what the right answer is for the safe transportation of oil, but I fear that with their potential consultations, they are procrastinating unnecessarily. Could the member comment on that?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague, and the government's position on this is a real shame. I hope that the opposition members will take the time today to reflect on this and support my colleague's motion. That would be a good sign for Canadians, industry, and people who want to protect the environment and Canadians' safety.

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise in the House today to join in the debate over the energy sector in our country, about regulation, about pipelines and to say in the first place that I was saddened that in both of the speeches from the official opposition, there was no reference at all to indigenous peoples and to the consultations with indigenous communities. I am sure we will have a chance to debate that omission later on, but for me, it was significant.

Our government does recognize the importance of the energy sector in Canada and to the Canadian economy, and we wholeheartedly support its development in an environmentally sustainable way. As the Prime Minister said earlier this week, we have a duty to ensure that there is a process by which pipeline proponents can demonstrate that their projects are in the public interest and can earn public support.

That is why I was pleased to announce, with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change yesterday, our interim approach to guide decision-making on major resource projects already in the regulatory review process. The interim approach is a critical first step toward the more permanent and comprehensive solution we have promised for reviewing major resource projects in the future.

Before I talk about our government's vision for resource development, I think it is important to stop here and acknowledge the very difficult recent past with some of our country's leading energy producers. I do not have to tell anyone in this chamber that low oil prices, difficult decisions on capital spending, and even tougher decisions about personnel have taken their toll. Behind all the statistics of rigs silenced or projects deferred, are people, people in communities not only in western Canada, but right across the country, who have borne the brunt and face uncertainties. In Alberta alone, more than 63,000 jobs were lost in the first eight months of 2015, and that number is growing. This has rippled across the financial, retail, and service industries. These struggles are real. We understand them.

That is why we have put in place an interim approach to provide certainty around how the principles that will guide decision-making for major resource projects already under regulatory review. That is why we will modernize the National Energy Board. The faster we restore public confidence in the regulatory process, the sooner we will see broad-based support for the large-scale energy projects.

Our government believes there is every reason for Canadians to be optimistic about the long-term future of our energy sector. There is reason to believe that Canada can be both a major energy producer and a world leader in combatting climate change. There is every reason to believe that we can achieve a brighter future based on a clean environment and a strong economy going hand in hand, a future built on innovation and adapting to changing times, a future with greener ways to extract and develop our fossil fuels, a future with more ways to get our energy to market at home and abroad, a future that makes greater use of renewable sources of energy, a future where energy efficiency plays a more prominent role, and a future where we invest in clean technologies and green infrastructure, and a future where we engage Canadians on how to generate the energy we need while preserving the planet we cherish.

Our government is committed to doing both. Our government believes that we can remake our energy sector to be stronger and more sustainable than ever before, that we can make decisions and take actions that will reset the course of our economy and create opportunities for generations to come, and that we can engage in nation building by creating a visionary energy strategy that enables Canada to lead in the fight against climate change and truly position us as a global leader in a low carbon economy.

This commitment was made crystal clear yesterday when the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and I jointly announced our government's interim approach as the first step toward restoring public trust in the way Canada reviews and assesses major resource projects. The minister outlined the interim principles that will guide the way forward.

No project will return to the starting line. Public input will be sought and considered. Additional information will be gathered for projects undergoing an environmental assessment, such as direct and upstream gas emissions associated with the projects. Environmental impacts will be understood and minimized, and decisions will be made based on science, facts, and evidence.

These interim measures are intended to ensure that environmental, economic, and community-based perspectives meaningfully inform government decision-making on major resource projects and better serve the public interest, because this is what is needed to instil public trust and restore Canada's international reputation. The Prime Minister has said, “Canada has to start demonstrating real action and not just words in order for the world to understand that we are serious and committed to developing our resources in a responsible and sustainable way”.

The issue is not whether to responsibly develop Canada's wealth of natural resources. There is no question that resource industries make vital contributions to our country. Developing our resources has traditionally been and remains a truly nation-building exercise.

Natural resources make up roughly 20% of our GDP. Whether we talk about oil and gas, potash and minerals, forestry, mining, or hydroelectric power, Canadians understand this. They recognize the importance of these industries to our communities and to Canada's economy. They also know that the livelihoods of thousands of families are dependent on the energy sector in particular, that it creates jobs and spurs investments that benefit all of us in Canada, and they want to see an end to the suffering in communities across the country hit hard by the downturn in commodity prices.

Canadians know too that there has to be fairness for indigenous peoples by fully engaging them in the environmental assessment process—not just because there is a constitutional duty to consult, which there is, but because there is a unique opportunity to share with indigenous communities the economic benefits of resource development in Canada. There is little disagreement about any of this. The problem is that Canadians have lost faith in the way Canada has been assessing major resource projects in recent years. Canadians realize that there cannot be a trade-off between energy development and environmental stewardship, because they know the two are linked. As I said yesterday, if we are to attract the investments we need to sustainably develop our energy resources, then we have to further engage Canadians, conduct deeper consultations with indigenous peoples, and base decisions on science, facts, and evidence. Without the full confidence of Canadians, none of these projects will move forward, and that is in no one's interests.

Canadians also know that we can take advantage of both energy development and environmental stewardship without sacrificing growth and prosperity, thanks in large measure to the ingenuity of industry leaders harnessing our technological innovations—and, may I say, particularly in the province of Alberta. However, they need renewed confidence in the way we evaluate major projects like pipelines. Voters made it abundantly clear during the recent election that they want their elected representatives to listen to Canadians, to consult with them, and build new processes that reflect their concerns and respond to their priorities. That is precisely what we intend to do.

We are going to do things differently to attract the necessary investments to sustainably develop our energy resources and build the infrastructure to move them to market. We are going to do the right thing so that Canadians can get behind important resource development projects. That is why we are committed to modernizing the National Energy Board, to provide the reassurance Canadians require as well as the predictability industry needs to ensure sustainable resource development.

I can assure the House that no proponent with a pipeline project undergoing an environmental review will have to go back to the starting line. We have laid down firm markers with the interim measures released yesterday, providing investors with confidence about the timelines that will govern their project decisions in the near and medium terms. In two cases, we believe that there is more work to be done so that the environmental assessment process aligns with the principles announced yesterday.

Let us look first at the proposed Trans Mountain expansion project from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia. This project is already deep into the regulatory review process. In fact, closing arguments are being heard in Burnaby this week, and they will conclude next week in Calgary. The National Energy Board is then scheduled to deliver its recommendation report to the government in May.

Based on the five principles of our interim approach, the Government of Canada intends to carry out additional consultations with indigenous peoples and appoint a ministerial representative to meet with communities along the pipeline route so that their views can be taken fully into account. Participant funding will also be made available to indigenous peoples to support these consultations.

As the Minister of Environment and Climate Change explained yesterday, we will also have an assessment of the project's direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions, which will also help inform our national climate change framework with provinces and territories.

To accomplish all of this, the government intends to seek an additional four months for the Government of Canada's legislative time limit to render a final decision. That would give us until December 2016 to decide whether the project is in the public interest. We think this is a fair and balanced solution, one that is rooted in these principles and that shows that Canada can deliver resource projects in a way that is consistent with the expectations of Canadians.

For the proposed energy east pipeline project, which would transport Alberta and Saskatchewan oil across the country as far as New Brunswick, we will again make reasonable adjustments to the review process to ensure their alignment with the principles.

As I said yesterday, our government intends to work more closely with indigenous peoples to build the kind of relationships that can serve as the basis for proper consultations. I also intend to appoint up to three new board members on a temporary basis to the National Energy Board to engage communities and indigenous communities along the proposed pipeline route.

Again, the Government of Canada will assess the direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions and impact on climate change associated with the energy east pipeline project.

To do all of this, I intend to seek an extension of six months to the legislative time limit for the National Energy Board to review the project and three months for the Government of Canada to make a final determination.

As I said yesterday, I am optimistic that with these measures we can begin to rebuild the public's trust while maintaining certainty for industry and ensuring a thorough process that is fair, transparent, and responsible.

This is a positive first step on our path to fully restore Canadians' confidence in our environmental assessment processes. The government looks forward to moving ahead expeditiously with the review of Canada's environmental processes, seeking early views from Canadians. My hope is that all hon. members will actively engage in this important effort.

Canadians want to see our country again playing a constructive role on the international stage, and acting sustainably here at home, tackling climate change, creating greener ways to extract and develop our fossil fuels, and leading on clean energy. They expect us to make decisions based on evidence. Canadians expect us to build the infrastructure that is essential to getting our energy to markets at home and around the world in a manner that fits within today's environmental imperatives.

Above all, Canadians want us to work together as governments, communities, and as people; together, because the challenges ahead of us are too big to tackle on our own; together, because that is how Canadians have always worked best; and together, because we can solve problems better and faster if we see each other as partners.

Our government is committed to making that happen.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, today we are hearing some really bad news: more uncertainty, more conditions and an even longer timeline for a project that is ready to go.

I do not understand this Liberal government, which is so eager to spend taxpayers' money that it does not have, in order to supposedly stimulate the economy and boost spending while very quickly increasing the deficit and the debt. It is appalling that the Liberals want to stop the energy east project, which is in line with current legislation.

On top of that, the energy east project proponents are being asked to be whiter than white. They are being asked to take into account greenhouse gas emissions that could be released while the pipeline is being installed, and yet other industrial sectors are not asked to do the same. People who want more buses on the road are not asked to do the same.

The oil sector is the only one being required to assess the impact of its future projects in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It is shameful and unfair. It is disrespectful, considering what the oil sector has done for the environment and for Canada's economic development.

A double standard is being applied to that industry, which promotes sustainable development and respects the environment.

As I said earlier, 99.9% of the crude oil and petroleum that moved through a pipeline over the past five years did so without any spills. What more could you ask for?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, it is very important, as we have discussed over these last number of days in the chamber, that any process will require a broad section of support among Canadians.

I am very pleased to report to the House that even since we made our announcements yesterday, many expressions of support for our proposals have come in from the industry, from provincial administrations, and from respected think tanks that are all saying the same thing, that these projects will not be built unless there is public consultation and community support across the country. That is what we intend to do. The reviews over the last 24 hours are very encouraging.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, the environment commissioner's revelation that the National Energy Board has been failing to ensure compliance with the conditions that it provides around pipeline approvals over the last 10 years is extremely worrying to my constituents and to all Canadians. Hundreds of conditions, for example, were given on the Enbridge pipeline, but we now have lost faith in the ability for those conditions to be implemented and enforced.

Therefore, what confidence can Canadians have in future National Energy Board decisions? What concrete measures will the Liberal government put in place to ensure that we can rely on the work of this regulatory body?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member will know from our campaign commitments and the mandate letter from the Prime Minister to my department that modernizing the National Energy Board is a very important priority. It is not simply a matter of the words of reform or modernization; it is based in principles, and those principles will be part of our review.

The report that was tabled this week by the commissioner, with whom I spoke, asked the National Energy Board to tighten up its monitoring in a number of different ways to help rebuild the confidence of Canadians. The chair of the National Energy Board has said that he has already begun this process, and we will monitor that.

However, members should know that in addition to the interim principles that were announced yesterday, there will be long-term reform of the environmental assessment process and of the National Energy Board itself.

I would invite all hon. members to join with us on this side of the House as we look at regulatory practices from around the world to ensure that the Canadian one is the best of them all.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Speaker, as to the opposition motion before us today, I want to go on the record as saying it is quite bizarre to hear from the opposition benches that the current government is ideologically driven in changing environmental reviews after the horrors of Bill C-38, the omnibus bill, that, as my hon. colleague from Edmonton—Strathcona has already pointed out, gutted the Fisheries Act and repealed the Environmental Assessment Act, which, up until that point, would have required a greenhouse gas assessment as part of an environmental review of any pipeline project.

The motion today makes a rather large leap, which is not factually correct. It claims that the energy east pipeline is for the purpose of transporting oil. Words matter. The pipelines, whether energy east, Kinder Morgan, or Keystone, were all for the purpose of transporting a raw product, not even crude, bitumen mixed with diluent. Would the minister consider the importance of being precise in our language, that when we are talking about exporting a raw product to bypass Canadian jobs and Canadian refineries, we ought to say so?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, the member is the best example I could ever imagine of clarity and precision.

I have one comment on the accusations of ideology and politicization of this process. I am sure I heard the hon. member for Beauce say that politicians should have the last say. Is that politicizing the process? Ultimately, who is left accountable for the decisions that are ultimately made? It is the politicians who will be accountable. Whether it is the responsibility over the regulatory process or parallel processes that we ourselves initiate, at the end of the day the government will make a decision for which we will be held accountable to the chamber and to all Canadians.

As always, I look forward to working with the hon. member about the precision of language, what is being transported, the environmental impacts of what is being taken through these lines, which all should be factored into a robust environmental assessment, which, in turn, becomes part of a complex set of issues that will be facing the government when it is time to make a decision.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to speak quickly about confidence. Members opposite in the government talk a lot about the confidence Canadians have in their plans as we move forward. Industry has no confidence in the Liberal government.

I and three of my colleagues attended one of the largest natural resource forums that I held in my riding of Cariboo—Prince George last week. Over 900 industry professionals from the resource sector were there. The government's absence was heard loud and clear. The message we heard was that Canada was now looking to be closed for business. The sound that we hear over the government patting itself on the back is the turning on of that closed for business sign.

I would like to invite the member opposite to come to my riding of Cariboo—Prince George, and together we will meet with industry professionals. He will hear first hand their lack of confidence in the government.

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I would love to join the member in his riding. Canada is a magnificent place and we should all get to each other's ridings whenever we can to understand and respect its diversity and beauty.

Respecting that diversity is part of what these issues are all about, because there will be diverse opinion. As previous ministers of natural resources have said, and as I said yesterday, nobody expects everybody to be happy with any decision that this government takes. It is by its very nature controversial. Our challenge as a government is to ensure that at the end of a robust process many Canadians will think that they have had a chance to be heard and that the decision is reasonable and in the national interest to which we will be held accountable.

There have been expressions of support from industry even within the last 24 hours. I had the pleasure of sitting down with industry leaders in Winnipeg and Halifax. Next week I will be sitting down with more in Vancouver. Remarkably, around the same table, were industry leaders, indigenous leaders, environmental—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry but the minister's time is up.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to energy-related issues. When we talk about the energy sector, it is very important to talk about value-added production, something we have lost sight of for years now in Canada with regard to natural resource development.

We always want to take part in substantive debates in the House, and that is why I will be proposing an amendment to this motion at the end of my speech.

I think I am one of a few members of Parliament in the House who has actually been knee deep in oil. I used to be a worker at the Shellburn refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia. It is one of the refineries that has closed across the country.

I remember the first time we had a briefing from the safety supervisor. The safety supervisor said two things: to never, ever go into the tanks alone, to always go in with a partner. This was the tank farm adjacent to the Shellburn refinery. The second piece of strong advice, in fact a mandatory requirement to follow, was to alway check safety equipment before going into the tanks, ensuring oxygen tanks were full, the regulator was working, and the mask was not broken. Those are all important things.

The safety supervisor was putting so much emphasis on that because we had to respect oil as a substance and the impacts. The reality was, for any workers going into those tanks, if our safety equipment malfunctioned, we would be dead within seconds. We know when we look at the energy sector around the world that safety regulations have to be very carefully followed. We have to respect the substance, both for the economic potential and the danger it imposes if it is mishandled. Having those safety regulations in place is something about which we feel very strongly.

At the same time, when we are talking about energy projects, we need to ensure the process is credible. That is really the fundamental question we are talking about today. The question of how we evaluate major resource projects to ensure our environment is protected and companies are able to obtain social licence is absolutely critical. The hard reality is that after a decade of Conservative government, that ended last October thankfully, Canadians have simply lost faith in the federal environmental review process. At the same time, pipeline projects have not moved ahead.

It is the Conservative members right next to me, the very sponsors of this motion, who are responsible for that lack of action. Those are the Conservatives who, when in government, systematically dismantled laws protecting our air, land, and water, burying these attacks in budget bills, gutting the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act, and the National Energy Board Act. We all remember these various modifications.

It was the Conservatives who placed arbitrary limits on public consultation, shutting Canadians out of the project review process. We were having National Energy Board hearings in my city of Burnaby, British Columbia where the large meeting hall was completely empty because the public was banned from participating in the process.

It was the Conservatives who actually injected more politics into the review process by giving cabinet the ability to overrule National Energy Board decisions. We have seen the impact of these changes with thousands of Canadians being denied the right to participate in pipeline reviews, growing public unrest, and mounting legal battles.

What is the result? In western Canada, where I come from, we have an expression. I was born and bred in British Columbia but my mother was born in Alberta. My brother lived in Manitoba for some time. Of course, as New Democrats, our spiritual home is Saskatchewan, with the first social democratic government in North America, under Tommy Douglas. That expression encompasses the approach of the Conservatives on energy, and that is, “All hat and no cattle”. What we have seen under the Conservatives, simply, despite their protestations to the contrary, is not a single kilometre of new pipeline constructed with the entire process taking place under the Conservatives. What we have seen is 28 court challenges to the National Energy Board or Governor in Council decisions in the last two years alone. Therefore, the Conservatives did create jobs in the energy sector and they were for lawyers.

I have no objection to that, but the reality is that when we look at the overall results, and I did listen carefully to my colleague from Portage—Lisgar, who talked about a number of projects for which the process had already started before the Conservatives came to power, the one project approval they have tried to hang their hat on is a pipeline reversal, which is not new pipelines.

The Conservatives on energy have been all hat and no cattle. Instead of speeding up the pipeline review process, the changes the Conservatives brought in broke public trust and meant that the projects ultimately did not move ahead. There was no social licence. In fact, the Conservatives damaged the process so badly, and my colleague from Edmonton--Strathcona spoke to this earlier, that the environment commissioner was forced to sound the alarm that companies' emergency plans are out of date, board oversight is full of holes, and the public does not have access to information about pipeline safety.

Perhaps most troubling, the commissioner found that the National Energy Board is not even verifying whether pipeline companies are living up to approval conditions. In the same way that safety has to be manifest and followed, such as the safety regulations at the refinery that I worked at, pipeline companies need to live up to their approval conditions.

This report comes five years after yet another damning audit that found many of the same problems. The Conservatives have left our pipeline review process in shambles, and thankfully, last October, Canadians clearly rejected their approach. That is why it is particularly inappropriate for the Conservatives today to try to use the House of Commons to get around the need for a credible, thorough, and open National Energy Board review process. They are the architects of the very problem we are discussing today.

Now, it is clear that Canadians voted for change on this issue. The Liberals on the campaign trail told Canadians that they thought the Conservatives' process was broken, and I agree with them. In fact, we have been saying it for a long time already. For the last decade, New Democrats were sounding the alarm that the Conservatives were dismantling our environmental laws, while the Liberals were standing by and letting those omnibus budget bills pass.

As we saw during the campaign, some of this could be about where they are getting their advice. Everyone will recall the incident involving a certain Dan Gagnier, Liberal Party campaign co-chair, trusted adviser to the Prime Minister, who also happened to be working for pipeline company TransCanada, advising them on how to lobby the incoming Liberal government. That certainly was not the high standard of ethical behaviour Canadians expect.

Nevertheless, by the time the campaign rolled around, even the Liberals were saying that the environmental review process was broken, so broken that it had to be redone. The Prime Minister came to my province, to Esquimalt, British Columbia, on August 20 of last year, and when asked if his National Energy Board overhaul would apply to Kinder Morgan, he said, “Yes, yes, it applies to existing projects, existing pipelines as well”. He also said: “we're going to change the government and that process has to be redone”.

The government did change, but the rest of that sentence has not come true. This promise to British Columbians was repeated by the new Liberal member for Burnaby North—Seymour and by the member for North Vancouver, who is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. He said that the Kinder Morgan process would have to satisfy a new, rigorous review, but instead, yesterday, the government rolled out a vague and ad hoc addition to the existing Conservative review process. It is just putting window dressing on top of what is a profoundly unstructured review process that does not lead to social licence.

Unfortunately, we just heard comments now from the Minister of Natural Resources, though he gave a good speech, saying that ultimately, what is going through is the former Conservative government's review process rather than the new review process the Liberals committed to to British Columbians and all Canadians in the campaign.

It should also be said that yesterday's presentation was done so quickly that the documents were not even available in both official languages, which illustrates how hastily and poorly things were done.

The announcement yesterday does not change any laws. Reviews will go ahead under existing Conservative legislation.

This interim process will simply be layered on top of the Conservatives' broken process, and it comes with a whole host of unanswered questions.

How will this process determine what is an unacceptable climate impact?

How will the long-term GHG impacts of the products being transported be accounted for?

How does the government expect to fulfill its obligation to meaningfully consult first nations in such a short time frame?

What does the system look like, and what happens to the feedback and commentary from first nations?

Why is there no funding available for general public consultation?

What about projects that fall outside the current limited scope of any NEB reviews? How will they receive a meaningful examination?

How can this process possibly repair the damage the Conservatives have done when it does not address the gutting of the Navigable Waters Protection Act or the removal of fish habitat protection.

How can this be real change when cabinet can still, behind closed doors, overturn a “no” decision from the National Energy Board?

Canadians and industry deserve answers, and they deserve a government that lives up to the promises it made during the campaign for a truly new process.

I want to be clear. Demanding a robust, credible process means much more likelihood of leading, eventually, to a “yes”.

Canada's natural resources are a tremendous gift, and managed properly and sustainably, are important drivers of our economy. The energy sector employs millions of Canadians and contributes greatly to our national and regional economies. I know this personally, first hand.

We all agree that it is important to get Canadian resources to market. Properly managed, a west-east project could mean better prices for producers, improved energy security, and help creating the value-added jobs we need and the value-added jobs we have lost. However, we need to ensure that any potential project is evaluated in a way that protects the environment and builds public confidence that we are getting it right.

These conversations do not need to be divisive. Strong environmental assessments and meaningful community consultations are the bedrock of sustainable development. It is ultimately the responsibility of government to ensure that this conversation brings Canadians together around solutions. In this, the Prime Minister should be looking to the work that Alberta premier Rachel Notley has done: a game-changing climate change agreement bringing together environmentalists, industry, and first nations; a phase-out of coal pollution in plants by 2030; a GHG cap on oil sands emissions; and a ramp-up of investment in renewable energy, green infrastructure, and public transit.

This is a powerful example of what can happen when discussions are focused on solutions, not rhetoric. This motion, unfortunately, fails that test.

For New Democrats, the bottom line is this. We need a review process with integrity that brings credibility and public confidence to the examination of proposed projects.

That is why I would like to move the following amendment to the motion by the member for Portage—Lisgar. It is seconded by my very distinguished colleague from Edmonton Strathcona: that the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the words “New Brunswick; and” and substituting the following: “d) express its view that pipeline reviews must be credible, thorough, open, and free from political interference”.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

It is my duty to inform hon. members that an amendment to an opposition motion may be moved only with the consent of the sponsor of the motion.

Therefore, I ask the hon. member for Portage—Lisgar if she consents to this amendment being moved.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

No, Madam Speaker, I do not.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

There is no consent. Therefore, pursuant to Standing Order 85, the amendment cannot be moved at this time.

Questions and comments.

The hon. member for Mount Royal.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his comments. I note that he mentioned the multiple provinces his family has links to. I know that the hon. member has been listening to question period in recent days and to the debate in this House, where people have named different provinces in this country and argued that a unity crisis would be caused if the pipeline was not approved, because Alberta would want to secede or Quebec would want to secede. I want to ask the hon. member what his feeling is.

Does he not feel that this country is strong enough, in terms of its unity, that a pipeline project could be approved or not approved and this country could still stay together, united? What we should be really looking at is whether the economic environmental criteria are really reflected in whether a project should go forward as opposed to whether we will have a national unity crisis if it does not.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, I think what unites all Canadians is the idea of having a fair process in place. What unites all Canadians is the idea that when a major project is going through an approval process, Canadians can have their say and first nations can have their say and we will all be aware of the environmental problems that need to be taken into consideration and what the economic benefits are. All Canadians from coast to coast to coast believe in those principles.

What happened over the last 10 years is that we saw a complete gutting of that process of trust and of putting it in Canadians' hands and ensuring proper public consultation.

There is probably no more vivid an image of how badly the Conservatives destroyed the public consultation process than the hearings taking place in Burnaby, British Columbia, where in a room the size of this place, only the witness giving testimony is allowed to come in. The public is barred. The public is not allowed to hear that testimony. The public is completely thrown out of the process.

I think what we have is a crisis of confidence by the public. It was started by the former Conservative government, and we are asking the new Liberal government to take that into consideration and open it up so that the public can come in.

Sadly, last night, the window dressing that was announced does not allow for that public consultation. I hope that the Liberals will revise it and open up that important public consultation, because that is the key to our democracy.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the member's speech, and I noticed that he mentioned Premier Notley, who is the premier of my province. Many of my constituents are out of work right now, which is directly related to the policies being introduced by that provincial premier.

The member mentioned public transit and how wonderful a plan it is. I agree that it is a very important thing to do. My riding happens to be in a location where the southeast LRT is being built. Unfortunately, my constituents are still waiting for an announcement from the provincial government.

I wonder if the member would maybe call his provincial colleague, Brian Mason, the minister responsible for this infrastructure project, and convince him to make a public announcement supporting the southeast Calgary LRT.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am not sure that is relevant, but I will say that the Conservatives gutted the economy in Alberta.

Earlier there was a Conservative who said that we should treat energy the same as agriculture. In the agriculture sector, under the Conservatives in Alberta, farmers had the lowest number of farmer seats in the entire country. The Conservatives drove down the energy sector and drove down the agriculture sector, so I guess they are treating them equitably.

For the Conservatives now to come back and say that the NDP has not fixed everything they broke is like a pyromaniac who comes back after burning down a house and asks why the house is not rebuilt. The NDP government is going to have to rebuild what the Conservatives broke.

What the NDP has done, I think in a very effective way, is bring together first nations, industry, and environmentalists and has actually had a groundbreaking agreement among all Albertans. I think, as a member of Parliament from Alberta, the member should be very proud of that accomplishment, which is the first time we have seen that reaching out right across the Alberta spectrum. That is an important initiative and should be supported by Alberta MPs.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Madam Speaker, listening to the Conservatives, it is flabbergasting. The net result of 10 years of their government is that they managed to do the impossible. There was a dual failure. They managed to not only gut environmental legislation in this country but also came up with a complete failure in terms of energy projects. To hear the member from Manitoba stand up and talk about the pipelines they got built is entirely disingenuous, because all Canadians know that the Conservatives failed to get a single pipeline built that would get any product to tidewater. That is what this issue is about: not internal pipelines but getting product to tidewater.

The hon. Minister of Natural Resources did talk about accountability, and I applaud him for that, but I want to raise the issue of accountability to Canadian voters.

The hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster is quite right that the Prime Minister, during the election, stood and promised Canadians directly that Kinder Morgan would go through a new, credible environmental process. That was a specific, explicit promise to Canadians. Now the Liberal government is backing away from that promise. That is not accountable, in my view.

I think I speak for most Canadians when I say that we want the same thing. We want to see value-added production in our energy resources in Canada, and we want to see a transition to sustainable energy in this country so that we can deal with climate change. That is a very real concern for people.

I want to applaud the premier of Alberta, who has managed to bring consensus from all industry groups.

I would ask the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster for his view on how we can deal with climate change and responsible energy development in this country.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Vancouver Kingsway for his question, and if I get carried away, I know you will shut me down. It is not a filibuster. It is just that what he is asking is quite exciting and interesting.

He talked about value added. He talked about the accomplishments of the Alberta government, which is very new but has done surprising, effective things, bringing people together. This is the first time we have seen this in many years, perhaps since the time of Peter Lougheed, where we have seen an Alberta government, in such an effective way, bringing people together from all sides: environmentalists, first nations and industry. He is absolutely right to point out the accomplishment of what is still a very new government that has been so effective in starting to rebuild after the catastrophe that occurred under the Conservatives.

He talked about value added. The refinery I worked for shut down, and we have seen this right across the country. We need policies that actually encourage the value-added production and jobs that come with it, rather than exporting raw logs, raw bitumen, and raw minerals. That is what we have seen.

Finally, on green energy, the potential is enormous. We are seeing a worldwide clean energy boom, and I have seen it first-hand in other countries. There have been national governments that have made those investments. Germany has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Canada can do the same if we see leadership from this new government. We have not seen it thus far, but I am hoping that it will follow NDP advice and put in place a plan that will actually put Canadians back to work.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the member's remarks. Certainly, over the years he is a frequent contributor to debate in the House, someone who speaks very passionately, but from time to time, I would say is prone to hyperbole.

There was something I heard today that I invite the member to clarify. I thought his critique of the record of the Conservative government with respect to the gutting of environmental laws in the last Parliament was entirely fair. One of the things he said, and I would ask him to either clarify or withdraw, is that the Liberals voted with the Conservatives in the budget omnibus bills in the last Parliament. That, quite simply, is not true. I would ask him to either clarify or withdraw that remark.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

The point I made, Madam Speaker, as you are well aware, is that when we saw the Conservatives running roughshod over the rights of Canadians and making all those changes, it was the NDP official opposition that was standing up to the Conservative government. The member is well aware that the Liberals were almost absent from the last Parliament. They ran a very successful election campaign. I am certainly not reproaching them in any way for that. In the last Parliament, we saw day after day after day New Democrats in this House of Commons pushing back on the Conservatives. Whether it was Bill C-51 or a whole range of other measures, it was New Democrats that provided the opposition.

That is the point and I stand by it, because those are the facts.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Shepard.

It is my pleasure to rise in the House today to debate the motion put forward by the Conservative Party on the issue of the energy sector and oil pipelines in Canada.

As this is my first speech in this Parliament, I would like to take a moment to thank the people of Chilliwack—Hope for once again placing their trust in me to serve them as their member of Parliament. As none of us would get here without the tireless work of our volunteers, I would like to thank the members of my amazing team in Chilliwack—Hope for their efforts over a very long and difficult campaign. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife Lisa and my son Maclean for their love and support not just during the campaign but always.

Over the last number of months we have seen the devastating job numbers coming out of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Over 100,000 jobs were lost in the energy sector and related sectors alone. This is not just an Alberta issue, it is an issue affecting all Canadians. I want to share some insight into the effect this is having on my own riding and my hometown. I do not seek to compare the situation in my region with those more affected but want to show members that families are hurting right across the country.

I spoke to the House in the last Parliament about the benefits of the energy sector in Chilliwack. Even though we are 1,500 kilometres away from Fort McMurray and the heart of the oil patch, hundreds of local manufacturing jobs were created by businesses big and small. These are companies that are on the leading edge of innovation, efficiency, and productivity, which is why it was so disappointing to hear the Prime Minister insult the energy sector as not being resourceful when he was gallivanting around with anti-energy celebrities at a Swiss ski hill in Davos earlier this month.

Just a short time ago, Britco Structures, located in the nearby district of Kent, had over 200 employees building housing units that were going into the many work camps utilized by energy companies operating in remote locations in the oil patch. Many of their employees live in Chilliwack. These were family-supporting, well-paying, skilled labour positions. Today, Britco is down to a skeleton crew operating on work-sharing programs in order to ensure that as many employees as possible can try to make ends meet. Nearly an entire workforce has been wiped out by the crisis in the energy sector. They are hopeful that new contracts will be won and they can bring back some of those who have been laid off, but right now it is not a good situation.

Another local success story in my riding is TYCROP Manufacturing, which is a 35-year old product creation company that specializes in designing, engineering, and building mobile industrial equipment solutions. It is a resourceful company that relies in large part on the oil and gas sector.

I contacted one of the owners of TYCROP Manufacturing last night and he stated, “Rosedale TYCROP has laid off over 100 staff, or roughly $7 million in payroll affecting Chilliwack and surrounding areas, Hope, Abbotsford, and Langley. We estimate that in excess of another 100 jobs of equal value have been lost by contract supply partners to TYCROP with a similar payroll value. The impact is severe with no new orders in sight. I just checked my email and there were five new layoffs today alone. We could not carry these people any longer. There was nothing for them to do.”

Dozens of highly skilled jobs were lost at IMW Industries in Chilliwack as the market for their compressed natural gas products dried up.

Hundreds of family-supporting manufacturing jobs have been lost in my riding. However, it is not just highly skilled manufacturing jobs that have been affected.

At Christmastime I spoke with Gordon, the operator of the Slotcar Palace, an old-school toy store in Chilliwack, full of Lego, board games, model tanks, and airplanes, and all sorts of amazing things for the young and young at heart. I asked Gordon how it was going. Unprompted, he told me how the downturn in the oil patch, which is 1,500 kilometres away, was having a negative impact on his small business. Several of his best customers had been laid off and could no longer afford to buy Christmas presents. They had less, and now so did he, and he was worried about what that would mean for him in the short and long term. There are hundreds of stories like that across my riding, and tens of thousands of stories like that right across the country.

Canex Building Supplies, a major building supply operation in Chilliwack, reports receiving dozens of resumés from highly paid labourers returning to Chilliwack from Alberta who are desperate to get an entry-level job in its lumberyard.

I have heard similar stories from extended family members who are fortunately still employed in the oil and gas sector in Alberta: hundreds of applications for single job openings, with all of the applicants hopelessly overqualified; accounts receivables issues, with invoices worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more not being paid on time, if at all; a massive increase in the use of food banks; a massive increase in property crime.

These are desperate times, which is why it was so callous and outrageous to hear the Liberal Minister of Veterans Affairs from Calgary state in the House this week that the people of Alberta were feeling refreshed and excited. My family members in Alberta are not feeling refreshed. They are feeling anxious. They are worried, they are concerned, and they are looking for some sign of hope that it is going to get better.

That is where our support for environmentally sustainable economic development comes in. That is why our support for the energy sector is so critical. That is where our support in principle for safe, efficient energy infrastructure, like the energy east pipeline, comes in. Approving these projects would send a message of hope to the people who have lost their jobs, and those who worry they will, that there is a better future in the energy sector and that the situation is going to improve, that Canadians will finally start to get world price for the oil that we have been blessed with, that Canadian oil will be used in Canadian refineries, that the companies that are laying off workers will be able to survive and expand their workforces when market conditions improve.

Conservatives have always been clear: we will only support pipelines if they are safe for Canadians and safe for the environment. When we were in government, we imposed hundreds of conditions on the pipeline projects that were approved. We demanded world-class marine spill response, world-class monitoring, world-class construction, and world-class standards. We did this by investing in world-class science. All independent analyses show that pipelines are the safest way to transport petrochemicals. That is a simple fact. If the new Liberal government actually believes in evidence-based policy making, then the Liberals should approve those pipeline projects that are shown to be safe and should drop their ideological opposition to the energy sector.

Every Canadian is supported either directly or indirectly by this sector. Energy products heat our homes, power our vehicles, and help us move goods and people across the country. The energy sector provides royalties and tax revenues that support our local hospitals and schools. It provides money for infrastructure. It should be valued, cherished, and nurtured not ridiculed, belittled, and berated, which is what the new current government has done to it in such a short time in office.

I want to say a bit about my friends, Jeff and Marcy. They live in Chilliwack, and Jeff works in the oil patch, leaving behind his wife and two kids for weeks at a time. It is a tough trade-off, but one that they have decided to make in order to get ahead financially. Because Jeff has been promoted to a senior position, he has not experienced the layoff that hundreds of his friends and co-workers have. However, he is worried that it could happen, and he told me what that would mean for his family. Marcy would have to go back to work, and could no longer home school their kids, which is what is best for them because of their son's health issues. Extras like the sports and music lessons would be gone. The financial security that they have sacrificed for would disappear. Jeff feels fortunate. While he worries, others are experiencing what he fears.

These are not statistics. These are our friends and neighbours, and the decision that the current government makes will have a real impact on their future.

Canadians know that we do not control the price of a barrel of oil. Those who have been laid off do not expect that by debating this issue in the House of Commons we can suddenly reverse this downward trend. However, what they do expect is that we will be on their side, that we will fight for them, and that we will do everything we can to support the energy industry and the energy infrastructure that supports their families. They need a government, like our previous Conservative government, that supports sustainable, responsible resource development.

Supporting this motion before us today signals our support for the energy sector. It shows Canadians who are hurting that we care and are working for them and for a future when they can return to work, continue to provide for their families, and continue to build this country.