Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to present e-petition 216.
The whole Canadian economy relies on oil and gas exploration, extraction, transport, upgrading, refining, and processing. The industry is Canada's largest private-sector investor and contributes $17 billion annually to government programs and services across the country. The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Canadians rely on the oil and gas sector directly and indirectly, and 110,000 Canadians have lost their jobs in the energy sector.
Canada is a world leader in the responsible development of energy resources, but a lack of pipelines to new markets means that Canadian producers often receive far less than market rates for their oil. Jobs depend on new and expanded pipeline infrastructure.
Canadians expect their government to champion the best interests of all of Canada, so I stand with the nearly 35,000 people who signed this e-petition calling on the Government of Canada to vocally defend Canadian oil and gas pipelines and to make the building of oil, gas, and diluted bitumen pipelines across Canada to tidewater and to the United States a national priority.