Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said something at Davos that sounded like pure common sense. He said, “A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options.” Most Canadians heard that and thought, “Well, of course,” and yet the Prime Minister does the exact opposite here at home. He talks about fuelling ourselves, and then his government blocks energy projects. He talks about prosperity, and then investment gets buried under years of red tape. He talks about independence, and then Canada becomes more dependent, not less. Canadians are left scratching their heads because the words make sense but the actions do not.
When a government keeps saying the right things while doing the opposite, people stop listening to speeches and start paying attention to their bills, their jobs and their future. That is the gap Canadians are feeling right now, between what is said abroad and what is actually happening at home.
At Davos, the Prime Minister told the world that the rules-based order is ruptured. He warned countries to stop living within a lie and to be honest about the gap between rhetoric and reality.
However, here is the reality that Canadians are living with. The rules-based order has not been thrown out the window, especially when it comes to our most important trading relationship. Despite tough rhetoric coming out of Washington, the vast majority of Canadian goods are still flowing into the U.S. under CUSMA, with minimal tariffs and established rules still in place. There are thousands of businesses that rely on CUSMA. They cannot afford anything that puts that relationship at risk. The system is under strain, but it is still functioning. A strong negotiator would have brought stability, not uncertainty, for Canadian businesses.
At Davos, the Prime Minister also warned against nostalgia. He said we should not hanker after things that no longer are. He told the world that the old order is finished and is not coming back, yet the moment he returned home and reality set in, his tune changed. Faced with pressure from the U.S., our largest trading partner, he suddenly began talking about a reset, about rebuilding the relationship and returning to something closer to what we had before.
Members can take note of the irony here. Abroad, the Prime Minister tells global leaders that nostalgia is foolish. At home, he asks Canadians to believe he can restore the very relationship he said no longer exists. This is where Canadians bring the conversation back to the basics. If we do not have a pipeline to the Pacific, then we do not really have access to the world. We have one main customer, the U.S., and that means we do not have leverage when things get tense; we have dependence.
We can talk all we like about diversification and resilience, but until Canadian oil can reach global buyers through a reliable Pacific corridor, those words do not change our reality. This is not about who has the power to act. The federal government has the authority to move projects like this forward. It does not require another announcement or another overseas speech. It requires decisions, permits and a clear timeline.
Instead, what we keep seeing are press conferences, consultations and promises that remain stubbornly in the future. The result is that Canadians stay stuck, rich in resources and short on results. Canada has everything it needs: the resources, the workers and the global demand. What is missing is not vision but the willingness to act. Until the government is prepared to approve projects and turn speeches into action, Canadians will keep living with a gap between what is said abroad and what is done at home.
If the Prime Minister truly believes what he said at Davos, when will he remove the laws that make pipelines to tidewater impossible?