Mr. Speaker, instead of making a crass personal insult to the minister about the degree to which he cares, I am just going to focus this debate on facts.
Oil and gas investment under the Liberals is down 46% in Canada and up 38% in the U.S. A sixth of Canadian energy workers in the entire industry have lost their jobs under these Liberals. Four projects worth $84 billion were lost last year alone. The facts are that these Liberals have presided over the largest two-year drop in energy investment in Canada of any other two-year period in 70 years.
Instead of politicians debating back and forth about the facts, let us listen to the actual experts, which Liberals say that they love to do. WorleyParsons in 2014 said in an international comparison of leading oil- and gas-producing regions:
The results of the current review re-emphasized that Canada's [Environmental Assessment] Processes are among the best in the world. Canada [has] state of the art guidelines for consultation, [traditional knowledge], and cumulative effects assessment. Canadian practitioners are among the leaders in the areas of Indigenous involvement, and social and health impact assessment. Canada has the existing frameworks, the global sharing of best practices, the government institutions and the capable people to make improvements to [environmental assessment] for the benefit of the country and for the benefit of the environment, communities and the economy.
It continues:
...the review found that [environmental assessment] cannot be everything to everyone. In Canada, however, it is a state of the art, global best process, with real opportunities for public input, transparency in both process and outcomes, and appeal processes involving independent scientists, stakeholders, panels and courts.
Can we please just acknowledge the facts and stop undermining Canada's reputation and long track record as an environmentally and socially responsible oil and gas developer?