Kim Rudd

[Natural Resources, May 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the previous government spent 10 years pitting the environment and the economy against each other. It pitted us against each other. It polarized us. That is not who we are.

The majority of Canadians support this project. The majority of Canadians understand that we are in a transition to a clean growth economy and that we will not get there overnight, but we will get there.

This week is about providing Canadian families with certainty. No political interference should ever get in the way of that. Make no mistake, this investment is in Canada's future.

[Natural Resources, May 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the B.C. government has been intimidating a private company and a project that has been approved by both the federal and provincial governments. We will not be intimidated. This project is in the national interest, and we are taking action to ensure that it is built for the benefit of all Canadians.

[Natural Resources, May 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is an absurd comparison of the two pipelines. Suggesting political interference was somehow the answer lies at the heart of the Conservative Party's failure on pipelines. It is shocking that the Conservatives cannot tell the difference between a project that is facing political interference by a provincial government and a project that a company dropped because it simply saw no business case for it.

The Trans Mountain expansion project is in Canada's national interest. It means thousands of good-paying jobs that will strengthen and grow our middle class.

[Natural Resources, May 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, what we are doing is investing to protect thousands of jobs in Alberta, and indeed, across the country. During 10 years, the Conservatives' rigid ideology failed to build pipelines to markets, other than those to the United States, and failed Canadian workers. When the Prime Minister went to Fort McMurray and met energy sector workers, he told them that this government will have their backs. This is an investment in hard-working Canadians.

Conservatives might think it is too risky to bid on Canadian workers, but we will always stand up for them.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Trans Mountain expansion is in our national interest. That is why we approved the project, and we stand by our decision. It is not a matter of whether the pipeline will be built but how it will be built.

At a time of great global trade uncertainty, the importance of Canada's role in the global energy market is bigger than individuals, projects, and provinces. We have the responsibility to ensure the stability and growth of the Canadian economy to get our resources to market, and British Columbia shares this responsibility.

We are determined to find a solution and we will act in Canada's best interests.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the TMX project is of vital strategic interest to Canada, and it will be built.

Our government has initiated formal financial discussions with Kinder Morgan, the results of which will be to remove uncertainty from the project. We are also actively pursuing legislative options that will assert and reinforce the federal jurisdiction in this matter, which we clearly have.

Hundreds of thousands of hard-working Canadians depend on this project being built. Protecting our environment and growing our economy are not opposing values. On the contrary, each makes the other possible.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives had 10 years to build a pipeline to ship Canada's resources to new global markets. They built zero. The Conservatives had 10 years to consult indigenous and local communities. They ignored them. The Conservatives had 10 years to rally the country around the need for new pipeline capacity to end the discount on landlocked Canadian crude. They did not. The Conservatives had 10 years to address environmental concerns. They failed.

We will take no lessons from that party on how to champion resource projects.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP's recommendation was based on the participation of 400 intervenors, 1,250 commentators, and extensive scientific and technical evidence, so we went further. We extended consultations and struck a ministerial panel. The panel heard from an additional 650 Canadians at 44 public meetings. It received over 20,000 online submissions and had more than 30,000 responses to their online questionnaire. This project was the subject of the most exhaustive review of any pipeline in Canadian history.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will remind the member opposite that there are 43 indigenous communities that indeed have signed impact benefit agreements, 33 of which are in the province of British Columbia.

The TMX project is of vital strategic interest to Canada, and it will be built. Our government has initiated formal financial discussions with Kinder Morgan, the result of which will be to remove uncertainty overhanging the project. We are actively pursuing legislative options that will assert and reinforce the federal jurisdiction in this matter, which we know we clearly have. Protecting our environment and growing our economy are not opposing values.

[Natural Resources, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our government knows that protecting the environment and growing the economy are not mutually exclusive, as the two parties opposite would have Canadians believe. We can do both together.

The true failure of leadership here is the inability of the leader of the third party to unite his party around a project in the national interest. We will stand up for the environment, for Canadian workers, and we will get this project built.