Mr. Speaker, back on October 6, 2017, I asked the minister a question. TransCanada was forced to abandon energy east after the Liberal government changed the rules halfway through the game. Foreign oil won and Canadians lost. How much did we lose? We lost billions of dollars. We know we lost at least $56 billion that could have gone from western Canada to the Maritimes, and specifically, New Brunswick.
The prospects for energy workers in Canada have been grim. I am going to talk about New Brunswick. The Liberal government holds all 32 seats in the Maritimes, yet it does not want its people out there working. It does not want to accept oil from western Canada.
In early October of 2017, in the face of government regulatory uncertainty, TransCanada decided to pull the plug on its proposed $15.7 billion energy east pipeline. Unfortunately, the cancelled energy project is just one of many under the Liberal government day in and day out. Needless to say, we have an argument right now in this country between the provinces of Alberta and B.C.
Will the Prime Minister tonight, in Edmonton, stand up and defend western Canadian oil? We are looking for a response tonight from the Prime Minister, as he went from Winnipeg last night to Edmonton. We want to see his answer to the Alberta oilfield workers, many of whom are unemployed, even though the price of oil today is around $66 to $67 and could go to $80. That is the world price. Unfortunately, we are not getting the world price. We are still down in the twenties.
One of the central challenges faced by Canadian energy producers is the development means for the product in western Canada to help provinces like Quebec and the Maritimes. There is Asia and Europe. We need this pipeline to get our product to tidewater. As we know, that did not happen in 2017. It is a big challenge. We are seeing companies move out of this country.
Just two days ago in Calgary, Brent Conway of Trinidad Drilling said that he cannot get federal and provincial governments together to support them. Three days ago, Trinidad Drilling, which is out of Calgary, moved two of its rigs from Alberta to Texas. One could say, “Well, who really cares.” However, Mr. Conway said he was doubtful they would ever return. He said that the U.S. has changed its tax policy and is open for business, but in Canada they continue to hit roadblocks day in and day out. CEO Karl Rudd of Akita Drilling has done the same thing. He has moved rigs from Alberta to the United States. Building pipelines and starting to export oil is what the United States is all about. CIBC capital market researchers expect Canadian oil and activity to be very depressed this year in Canada.
I want to know what the Liberal government is going to do to stand up for pipelines in this country and western Canadian oil.