Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House tonight to speak on this very important issue. I want to thank my colleagues in the Conservative Party for initiating this discussion.
A lot of people have been affected in Alberta by the downturn in oil prices. It is very important to remember that at the heart of this, people are suffering economically in ways that will affect all aspects of their lives. It is incumbent upon us and the government to do whatever we can to ensure that they can rebound in the most timely and expeditious way possible.
I must admit that when I heard the proposal for this debate earlier this evening, I thought it was going to be an opportunity to have a good, wholesome discussion about what some of the possible solutions are. As usual in this place, it did not exactly turn out like that. There seems to be a lot of finger pointing. I will admit that I took part in that myself, but the reality of the situation is that there is a lot of blame to go round and I do not think it is entirely fair to blame one party or the other party, one government or the other government.
The member for Lakeland who started the debate mentioned that this has been a crisis for three years and that the entire crisis is the responsibility of this particular government. That just does not make any sense, because three years ago the government was literally swearing in its cabinet and getting going. To try to blame it for everything that has happened over the last three years is just not practical and does not make sense. The reality of the situation, which I already brought up tonight, is that when Stephen Harper government came to power in 2006, we exported 99% of Canadian oil to the States. He had a prime opportunity when oil prices were at a great selling price to start diversifying the market, but he took the lazy approach and did not do that.
Yes, we ran into some problems in 2008 that would have made it more challenging, but despite the rhetoric about what the Conservatives did, the four pipelines that were built and their government's approval of this or that, if we fast forward to 2015, we were still in the exact same position, with 99% of our oil still going to the States. That is the fundamental problem, the fact that we are not getting our oil to any other markets. Therefore, to try to blame this squarely on the last three years is disingenuous at best, and an outright falsehood of reality at worst.
Let us talk about why it was so difficult for Stephen Harper to get it done. I believe Stephen Harper wanted to build pipelines, but he was unable to do so because while he was touting that Canada would an economic superpower with its oil industry, he was simultaneously undercutting the environmentalist movements, the global climate initiatives and, in essence, painting a target on the back of the oil industry in Canada. That is what he was doing. As a result, there were injunctions and legal manoeuvres throughout the entire process that made it very difficult for him to do that.
I believe that Stephen Harper and the previous government had the right intentions, but they set the playing field in such a way that it made virtually impossible for them to do that. That is why this government is taking a different approach, an approach that respects the processes and the various players and opinions that formulate how we will go about approving projects and getting them done. In that, the single most important issue is that we diversify the market to ensure that oil can go to other parts of the world so that we will not run into a problem like this again in the future.
I will read a quote from a Maclean's article from January 5, 2015 to back up what I said. It states:
Instead of convincing critics Canada could be trusted to develop a carbon-intensive resource in a sustainable fashion, Ottawa instead boasted about Canada’s 'emerging energy superpower' status, lashed out at environmentalists and thumbed its nose at international climate change efforts, painting a target on the industry’s back in the process.
It is also worth noting that 65,000 jobs were actually lost when oil prices started to decline under Stephen Harper, if we can be honest and forthright about the facts. It is also interesting that the previous government had such a poor record on pipelines and on the environment and climate change. The Conservatives were great at neither. Harper fought global efforts to deal with climate change and pulled out of the Kyoto accord.
When I talk about what we can do differently and the opportunities we have, let us talk about some of the stuff that we have been able to do and action we have been able to take after 10 years of Conservative inaction. We have supported the Keystone XL pipeline. On the Trans Mountain expansion project, we are moving forward in the right way, through meaningful consultations. We have also approved the Line 3 replacement project, the LNG Canada project and the Nova Gas pipeline. There are a number of examples where we are moving forward in the right process in order to make meaningful decisions without creating massive controversy that makes it literally impossible.
The reality, and what the Conservatives are going to need to understand at some point or another, is that one cannot bombastically attack everything that contributes to a process that is going to make these projects a reality. That is what they did for 10 years.
I also want to take a moment to talk about the bigger macroeconomic project here. We have a situation where not only is so much of Alberta's economy dependent on oil that is going into the States, but so much of Alberta's economy is dependent on oil. If we can also diversity the economy in terms of where the jobs are located and where industry is, we can also further insulate ourselves against other potential threats that might emerge to one particular sector of the economy. It is very simple. I think everyone can understand the notion of not putting all of our eggs in one basket. It is the same idea.
That is why, to Alberta's credit, it is actually doing some pretty impressive things when it comes to promoting the renewable energy sector. If we look at the statistics, we will see that Alberta is actually doubling and tripling the jobs in the renewable and clean tech sector. That is a really smart move, because it is diversifying its economy. Albertans are getting well-paying jobs that are going to be the jobs of the future and they are setting up an environment where the economy can be diverse and not just dependent on one particular sector or another.
Let us talk about what Alberta has committed to. It has committed to having 30% of its electricity come from renewable sources, such as wind, hydro and solar by 2030. This has a promising new potential for employment growth of 30% to 50% in this particular sector. Again, we know these are extremely well-paying jobs, and when we can diversify a market, we can further insulate it.
I see my time is running out. I have enjoyed the discussion tonight. I have learned a lot in terms of the various different positions on this, but I genuinely think that in order to advance any particular industry, we are going to have to take a balanced approach. The reality of the situation is that for 10 years, the Conservatives did not take a balanced approach. They tried to bully their way through a particular industry imposing things that were not going to happen because there was too much opposition. At the end of the day, what we are seeing is an approach that will work, one that brings all the players together to have a meaningful process and meaningful deliberation so we can create projects that will genuinely benefit Alberta and the country as a whole.