Mr. Speaker, from now on, as climate change worsens, we can tell ourselves that we played a small part in that. We will have a $4.5-billion interest in Trans Mountain, which is going to ship the dirtiest oil in the world without our consent.
Ottawa cannot afford to maintain appropriate health transfers for Quebec patients who need them. Ottawa cannot afford transfers for post-secondary education. Ottawa cannot afford to improve an employment insurance system that negatively impacts the unemployed. However, it can afford to pay for a pipeline that costs billions of dollars. It just takes out its cheque book and, presto.
What is the next step? Will the government be talking to TransCanada and take over energy east?
Pipelines that are forced on the people and that harm the environment are not in the national interest. It is about time that the government understands that getting rid of dirty energy is in the national interest.