Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Souris—Moose Mountain.
I rise to speak to the Conservative Party's opposition motion respecting the Trans Mountain pipeline and the abdication of leadership by the Liberal government toward seeing the pipeline actually built.
It has now been two weeks since the B.C. environment minister said that the B.C. government is prepared to block the flow of additional diluted bitumen pending the outcome of a study on the environmental impacts of spillage.
The fact that the B.C. government is prepared to block the flow of additional diluted bitumen pending the outcome of this so-called study effectively means that the B.C. NDP government is prepared to unilaterally force the Trans Mountain project to be stalled, a pipeline project that is a work of national interest, a project that means jobs, and amounts to billions of dollars of investment. The plan to delay on the part of the B.C. NDP government is unlawful and unconstitutional. It puts a $7.9-billion pipeline project at risk, and with it thousands of jobs.
It is an undisputed fact that interprovincial pipelines like Trans Mountain fall squarely within federal jurisdiction. As part of that federal jurisdiction, there was a significant, substantive, and comprehensive review of this project by the National Energy Board. At the end of that review, the National Energy Board gave Trans Mountain the green light.
The fact that there was a comprehensive review that lasted some 29 months and resulted in some 157 conditions is not of interest to Premier Horgan and his NDP government. What Premier Horgan is interested in is obstruction. He is interested in delay. He is interested in using all means necessary to stop Trans Mountain, and Premier Horgan has said as much. True to his word, Premier Horgan has declared war on Trans Mountain, and in so doing, he has declared war on federal jurisdiction.
In the face of this unprecedented attack on federal jurisdiction and on the pipeline approval process by Premier Horgan, what has the Prime Minister done? What has the Minister of Natural Resources done? What have the three Liberal MPs from Alberta done? Have they stood up for federal jurisdiction? No. Have they stood up for the rule of law? No. Have they stood up for the billions of dollars of investment and the thousands of jobs that are at risk due to the reckless actions of the B.C. NDP government? Not a chance. Instead, the Prime Minister has been silent.
The best that the Prime Minister could say was that he was disinclined to get involved in disagreements between provinces. What is the Prime Minister talking about? This is not a matter of a disagreement between provinces. This is a matter of an interprovincial pipeline that is in the national interest, that went through all of the hurdles, that received the green light from the National Energy Board after a comprehensive review, that was approved by the federal cabinet, and is now being stalled by the unilateral actions of the B.C. NDP government, a government that has made it clear it is prepared to thwart the rule of law and put thousands of jobs and billions of dollars at risk and effectively hold this country at ransom.
That is the position of the NDP government in British Columbia, and that is what the current Liberal government faces. In response to that, all the Prime Minister can say is that he is disinclined to get involved in disagreements among provinces. If that is what the Prime Minister calls leadership, I call it pathetic leadership.
There is then the Minister of Natural Resources, who said on Global Television that if the British Columbia government wants to review the issue of spillage, it can go ahead so long as there is not unreasonable delay. What a joke. Instead of standing up for jobs, for rule of law, instead of standing up for our energy sector, the position of the Minister of Natural Resources is one of going along and getting along with the B.C. NDP.
Quite frankly, the lack of leadership we have seen from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources on the Trans Mountain pipeline is part of a two and a half year pattern on the part of the government in terms of the lack of leadership it has provided in terms of championing Canada's energy sector. The current government so often likes to say that the economy and the environment go hand in hand. We hear that talking point again and again. However, those are just words. When one looks at the record of the government, time and time again, instead of balancing the environment and the economy, the record of the government is to side with U.S. financed, radical anti-oil sands activists.
That is precisely what the current government did when it killed the northern gateway pipeline by imposing an arbitrary tanker ban on the north coast of British Columbia. That was not based on science, not based upon what was in the best interests of the environment, but on the basis of raw politics. That is the same government that is responsible for killing energy east by changing the rules of the game midway through the review process, and now it is a government that is sitting idly by as Premier Horgan threatens yet another pipeline project.
We have heard a lot of speeches, a lot of talk today, from members opposite, about how they believe this project is in the national interest. It is nice to hear, but I say it is time that the government actually does something. It is time for the government to act. There is one simple thing that the Liberals could do to act, to say enough is enough—enough of a delay, enough of the obstruction—and that is to invoke section 92 of the Constitution and call upon Parliament to declare that Trans Mountain is a work for the general advantage of Canada, thereby suspending municipal and provincial roadblocks. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now. The clock is ticking.