Mr. Chair, here is the difference. Western Canada impacts the entire country now. Alberta energy sector workers stand in solidarity with workers who fly back and forth from the Maritimes, with steelworkers from across the country, and with people from British Columbia, because a strong Alberta means a strong Canada. We cannot be silenced anymore.
What has the government tried to do? It is very clever. It has done everything except actually call it the national energy plan 2. It put uncertainty into the regulatory process for approving major resource projects. It put a tax on everything, which will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Anytime we ask the government to show the demand assumptions on price elasticity, it cannot do that. It put a consumption tax on this.
The infrastructure minister, who just rose in debate, spent $800,000 renovating his own office instead of doing anything in Alberta. As one of my colleagues behind me said, all the Liberals have done is manage to put together a jumble of buzz words. Why? It is because they are ideologically opposed to our part of the country. I say this not out of politics but out of reality. Every single one of my colleagues who sits behind me tonight knows that this is right. It is something that needs to be said.
The Prime Minister cannot say that he wants to phase out the energy sector and then say two weeks later that he misspoke. We cannot have ideological, non-fact-based opposition to one of Canada's major job-creating sectors, which we know can produce energy in one of the most ethical, effective, environmentally responsible ways in the entire world. We are a leader in that. That is one of our exports.
We have a Prime Minister and a caucus who just do not care. They are more interested in $1,500 Rosedale cocktail soirees than about the woman who was in my office. They are more interested in anything other than the woman who was in my office and wants to work. They do not care. They have done nothing for the people in my riding.
This is what I ask of the government tonight. It is very simple. The Liberals stand here and waste time in Parliament for a week and a half in debate on changing the chief statistician council. They should give a rip about Alberta. They should stop ignoring the fact that we are part of this country, because at some point, we will not be quiet, and that starts tonight.
I will say to everyone who is watching that we are not putting up with this anymore. The talking points the government is putting forward are not cutting it. On behalf of every person who has written to every one of the people who are sitting behind me tonight, we are standing up for them and we are standing up against that.