Mr. Speaker, I rise to table four petitions. I am, first off, very pleased to be tabling a petition in support of Canada's energy sector.
Petitioners highlight that Canada holds vast reserves of oil and gas that could stabilize global markets, support our democratic allies and power Canadian paycheques, but only if these resources can reach tidewater and diversified world markets. They highlight that global energy markets are now in acute disruption due to the war in the Middle East and threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving our allies urgently searching for secure supplies from friendly democracies.
The Prime Minister, petitioners say, has promised to move with unimaginable speed to build now and to approve major projects quickly, yet his government has not approved a single new pipeline or major energy project, despite having been given exceptional powers by Parliament to do so. Petitioners observe that instead of delivering on those promises, the Prime Minister's government has doubled the deficit, presided over Canada's shrinking economy and turned a political ceremony and press release into a substitute for actual permits and construction.
Petitioners further highlight that Liberals introduced Bill C-69 and C-48, anti-development legislation that has blocked the shipment of oil to our coasts; and that Liberal red tape has made it take almost 18 years to open a mine, 23% longer than in Australia and 38% longer than in the United States, while investors, jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity have been driven to other countries.
Petitioners observe as well that Canada now exports 98% of its crude oil to the United States, leaving our producers and workers at the mercy of American policy and a single market, rather than getting world prices through pipelines and LNG terminals to the Pacific and Atlantic.
Therefore, petitioners call on the Government of Canada to repeal Bills C-69 and C-48 and replace them with a regulatory framework that protects the environment, respects indigenous rights and allows responsible energy projects to be built. They ask the government to commit to a clear, predictable and, at maximum, six-month decision timeline for approval of major energy and resource projects so investors, workers and communities can have certainty.
Finally, petitioners want the government to scrap the federal energy cap on Canadian oil and gas production so responsible, lower-emission Canadian energy can grow, compete globally and displace higher-emitting sources from hostile or unstable regimes.
I want to thank the petitioners for their hard work in bringing this important petition to Parliament.
