Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of his speech, I heard the Prime Minister tell us that his government will continue to be there for British Columbians, and I wondered what “being there” means. If “being there” only means putting out fires, I think that is not enough. We also need to prevent fires.
We need to show empathy and sympathy tonight, but what we will need in the future is courage. Courage means being aware that in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the government invested $14 billion annually to support oil and gas.
On the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, we saw $560 million invested in the emissions reduction fund go solely toward supporting oil and gas.
If the Prime Minister is serious and he is there for Canadians, what he should do tonight is say that he will do whatever he can to end fossil fuel subsidies.