Mr. Speaker, on Monday the Minister of Natural Resources spoke at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada's convention. Mining contributes $57 billion to our GDP, but it is struggling in a long downturn. The minister acknowledged that uncertainty is bad for the business, but the government's transitional regulatory approach creates instability, deters investment, and causes job losses.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was minutes away, naming two pandas, and did not stop in to the largest mining meeting in the world. I guess the Prime Minister figured pandas do not ask tough questions or need real answers.
Tomorrow he will be rubbing elbows at the Center for American Progress, which calls Canadian energy “dirty business”. LNG projects are at risk. There is no deal on softwood lumber.
We know making priorities is hard and maybe the government is just not ready yet, but it is a bad pattern. Canadians will start to have some joy when the Liberals give them hope that they have a real plan for the hundreds of thousands of workers whose jobs are on the line in our world-leading natural resources sector.