Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to work with my colleague from Red Deer—Lacombe. I know how committed he is to making sure that those involved in the oil and gas industry in central Alberta have an opportunity to get back to work and do the things they are experts at.
To one of the points the member mentioned, I had an opportunity when I was on the international trade committee to speak to some investors in Singapore and Malaysia. They knew of investment opportunities in Canada and Alberta, but had looked at what was taking place in the country at the time, just a year or so ago, and said they could not tell their investors this was where they should be putting their dollars. That is the major concern we have.
We are at the stage where people say that they can put their money into Kazakhstan or other areas, because there is no certainty with any kind of a project here. That is the critical part. That is what the people in our municipalities are saying. That is why they are so frustrated, because they have work to do, as well as our provincial counterparts, to try to get projects up and running and allow things to happen. It is extremely frustrating to know that because of the actions taken in the last few years, we have lost the competitive advantage that we were so proud of as Canadians.