Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Forest Lawn.
On this first day of the House sitting in the new year, I am proud to speak up for something that is important to all Canadians. The importance of Keystone XL is something I want us all to focus on right now. It is obviously why the official opposition has requested an emergency debate on it tonight.
The Liberals have officially acknowledged the benefits of this pipeline, but they really do not seem to understand or care much about the urgency of what is happening. I wish they did. I wish they would take seriously the needs and aspirations of Canadians all across our country. My riding, my province and my region want this pipeline for many good reasons and they are not alone.
It was great to hear the Minister of Natural Resources talk earlier in the evening about the couple of pipeline projects that have received approval during the Liberals' time in government. A more appropriate description of their approval, though, would be that they survived the Liberal gauntlet that was thrown down before them. Since the minister listed a couple of projects that received approval, I thought it would only be appropriate to list a few companies that did not survive the Liberal gauntlet.
I found some examples online. The first is Houston Oil & Gas, which ceased operations in November 2019. Calgary-based Houston Oil & Gas abandoned its operations due to financial difficulties. The company operated 1,264 wells, 251 pipelines and 41 processing facilities, mainly out of south-east Alberta. It could cost a total of $80 million to clean up the remaining infrastructure.
The next is the move by Encana, the Canadian oil giant, of its headquarters to the U.S. In October 2019, when it announced its rebranding to Ovintiv Inc., it said it was moving its headquarters to the United States to attract more investment. CEO Doug Suttles stated that “A domicile in the United States will expose our company to increasingly larger pools of investment in U.S. index funds and passively managed accounts, as well as better align us with our U.S. peers.”
Former CEO Gwyn Morgan also said that “The destructive policies of the Trudeau Liberals have left the company with no choice but to shift its asset base and capital program south of the border.” Kinder Morgan has—