Leon Benoit

[Offshore Health and Safety Act, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I do not entirely understand the question. I do not understand what the contradiction is, I guess.

What I do know is that we are working with the Provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia in a way that they see as appropriate to further protect the health and safety of workers. I simply do not see a contradiction, but I would certainly welcome further discussion on that point and would listen carefully to the member if he has something to add.

[Offshore Health and Safety Act, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to Canada's offshore safety regime.

Natural resources are an important part of Canada's economy. We all know this. The country was enormously blessed not only with huge reserves of energy, but also with massive tracts of forest, as well as an abundance of minerals and metals.

For generations, we have brought opportunity, jobs and growth to every region of the country through this sector. Right now nearly 800,000 Canadians work in the natural resources sectors. Another 800,000 people are employed by industries serving these sectors. Added up, close to 1.6 million Canadians depend on natural resources for their jobs, 10% of all employment in Canada.

Put together, natural resources account for 15% of our gross domestic product and a full 50% of our exports. When we include the spinoff industries that provide goods and services to the sector, natural resources account for nearly 20% of our GDP, or nearly one-fifth of our economy.

The important thing is that natural resources are poised to play an even bigger role in the years and decades ahead. In fact, over the next decade more than 600 major natural resources projects, worth over $650 billion, are expected to come online across Canada. That $650 billion figure represents hundreds of thousands of top-paying jobs in every sector of our economy and in every region of the country.

That is why our government has a plan to unleash Canada's natural resource potential. We call it the responsible resource development approach. This plan is streamlining the reviews of major projects by ensuring fixed timelines, eliminating duplication, strengthening environmental protection and improving aboriginal consultations.

Over the past year, there has been a growing interest in exploration of the offshore resources of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Off Nova Scotia's coast, offshore activity is continuing to pick up, with production of natural gas from the Sable offshore energy project and the startup of the Deep Panuke natural gas project. In fact, in the past two years, the Nova Scotia offshore area has seen the largest bids ever for offshore parcels in Atlantic Canada, with more than $2 billion bid for 12 parcels offshore. Shell Canada and BP Exploration clearly see the potential that exists in the Nova Scotia offshore area.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the offshore oil and gas industry is contributing to a booming economy and a resurgence in the natural resources sector. I was elected to the House 20 years ago. For the first almost 10 years of the time I spent here, the talk was of Newfoundland and Labrador being a have-not province. It seemed there was no hope.

The fisheries sector was dying due to overfishing and especially by international illegal fishing. The tourism industry in Newfoundland and Labrador had not been developed, like it is now. It truly seemed the future for Newfoundland and Labrador was bleak.

Here we are, a short 20 years later, and Newfoundland and Labrador is a have province, contributing to Canada's economy in a substantial way. Not only that, and I guess this is kind of a bad thing for Alberta, and I am a member of Parliament from Alberta, but we are losing the good Newfoundland workers we depended on so much in Alberta in our resource sector to Newfoundland and Labrador. That is as it should be.

The province's GDP has performed at or above the national average in 9 of the past 13 years. Offshore oil and gas accounted for 33% of the GDP in 2011.

The Hibernia south extension could return as much as $13 billion to the province in taxes and royalties.

According to a recent report from the province's department of human resources, the resource sector will be the major contributor, with an 8% boost in employment. That is 2,300 new jobs by 2015. It is substantial, indeed, for that part of the country.

An exciting thing is that there will be 2,300 new jobs in the new development of the Hebron heavy oil project and the Muskrat Falls hydro project as these projects ramp up. Hibernia was the largest project ever undertaken in Newfoundland and Labrador, but as big as Hibernia was and is, Hebron may be even bigger.

Hebron represents a capital investment of as much as $14 billion. It is expected to create more than 3,500 good paying jobs for Canadians during construction alone. Hebron is still on target for its first oil by 2015.

Here is the big picture. In both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, resource revenues continue to grow and much of that growth is in the offshore. Exploration and development of the offshore is translating into real, tangible benefits for the people of these provinces, such as more and better jobs, tax cuts for families at all income levels, lower taxes for small businesses and new investments in service and infrastructure that help to attract new investment and build stronger communities. These benefits will continue to grow.

To ensure these offshore activities are ferried out safely, our Conservative government is introducing new legislation to improve Canada's robust offshore regulatory framework. We have been working closely with the Governments of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador to address the gaps found in the current legislation concerning occupational health and safety.

We know that the Senate did a study on this recently and found our regulatory system to be very strong now, but this would improve the process further. We have to ensure that we have the regulatory process that we need to go well into the future, and that is what this would help to do.

After working with the provinces, industry, regulators and labour groups, we are improving our offshore legislation to better protect the safety of Canada's offshore workers. These changes would help protect offshore workers by vesting with the accords act a strong occupational health and safety regime. Both provinces have already given royal assent to their respective bills, but this time, they must wait for the legislation to pass our federal Parliament for the new regime to come into force. Of course, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia want this legislation passed as quickly as possible.

The health and safety of Canada's offshore workers is a top priority for the government. Under the current regime, all offshore activities are regulated by Canada's offshore boards. Companies that want to explore offshore must provide and have approved by the provinces board a detailed emergency response plan and contingency plan before any drilling can take place. It is rigorous. This means that Canadian regulators will not allow any offshore activity unless they are absolutely convinced that the environment and safety of workers are well protected. Our offshore installations and the equipment and training required to operate them must meet the strictest regulatory standards.

This legislation would just add to the very substantial and well-functioning legislation that is currently in place. It would lead to better things and to the appropriate regulatory regime that protects health and safety in the decade ahead. That is what this is about. This is something good for eastern Canada and, in particular, for Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

[Reform Party of Canada, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago, 52 Reform MPs stormed Ottawa to change things. We called for balancing budgets. We promoted lower taxes for families and business. We fought for rebalancing the justice system to protect society and to give victims rights in the process. We pushed for more accountability for taxpayers' dollars. We have delivered in all of these areas.

We also promoted democratic reforms, and our government has tried to pass legislation to elect senators with term limits meaning no more senators for life or senators until age 75. There is still work to be done in this area of democratic reform, but we will keep at it.

This group of 52 MPs, backed by tens of thousands of members and millions of supporters, were mocked and rejected by the national media and the establishment. However, as members know, these Reformers have made a real difference over the past 20 years and will continue into the future, and Canada is truly better for it.

[Grain Shipments by Rail, October 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that farmers are the salt of the earth and I am delighted that farming is pretty good right now. Farmers have a lot to be thankful for: cattle prices are high, hog prices are on the rise, and supply management sectors are relatively stable, with new opportunity being opened up with the Canada-EU free trade agreement. This agreement, of course, is good for all sectors.

Grain farmers have produced a huge record crop. When we hear farmers complain about storage shortages or their trucking bill, we know they have a big crop.

While these comments are partly in jest, it is true that grain movement and prices will very much depend on CN and CP rail.

I want to assure farmers that my colleagues and I are aware of the importance of early and heavy grain movement and will be strongly encouraging the railways to get at it. This crop is almost in the bin and much of it is in temporary storage, but it is still a long way from market and is still very vulnerable. We will keep watching out and ensure that this crop gets moved.

[Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, May 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, first, I really appreciate my colleague's presentation. However, I was kind of shocked when I heard the member for Halifax ask a question earlier. Her question was about why this was needed.

In the member's presentation, he talked about Mr. Denny, who is from the home riding of the member for Halifax. He is a perfect example of exactly why this legislation is needed. How can that member stand and ask why this is needed when a constituent of hers killed again and the victim would have been protected, probably, by a law like this?

I would like to ask the member why there is a disconnect, if he wants to take a guess, in the reasoning of this issue by the member for Halifax.

[Petitions, May 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition refers to the CBC program on sex-selective abortion. The petitioners call upon Parliament to make a strong statement against infanticide of females in this country and to end the practice of sex-selective abortion in Canada.

[Petitions, May 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today on behalf of constituents. In the first, constituents note that Canada is one of the very few countries in the western world that has no law on abortion. They call on Parliament to do as the Supreme Court has suggested on a couple of occasions and put in place a law on abortion that would restrict abortion in some fashion.

[BUSINESS OF SUPPLY, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Chair, we have been talking about our responsible resource development program that would put more onus on companies to be much more careful in the way they operate in the natural resource sectors, that would put a lot more onus on them when it comes to the environmental process, to get approval.

With this extra responsibility on companies, I would like to ask the minister whether he believes this process, which in fact would just cut down the timeline for approval or rejection of a project, would actually push companies away from investing in Canada or whether it would encourage more companies to invest in Canada and I would like him to give the reasons for his answer.

[BUSINESS OF SUPPLY, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I will go straight into questions. It is a format that happens every now and again, but not all that often around here.

We know that resource development is crucial to our success as a country. I think we all know that, at least on this side of the House. As an Albertan, I can see these benefits in my riding. They are widespread. I talked about my five children and their spouses. This is what keeps them going. This is what makes their families do quite well, frankly.

Last year, our government implemented our responsible resource development plan that recognized the balance between resource development and environmental protection. How do we ensure that we continue to benefit from resource development while ensuring that the environment is well protected because Canadians expect that of us?

[BUSINESS OF SUPPLY, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I am delighted to participate in this debate here tonight. Canadians are very fortunate, as I think we all know, that our country is wealthy in natural resources, and we are the envy of many other countries around the world.

For generations natural resources have brought opportunity, jobs and growth to every region of this country, and today natural resources account for 15% of our gross domestic product and 50% of our exports. When we include the spinoff industries that provide goods and services to this sector, natural resources account for close to 20% of our GDP, nearly one-fifth of our economy.

Specifically, the energy, mining and forestry industries provide over $30 billion a year in revenue to governments, money that supports critical social programs such as health, education, pensions and old age security. That $30 billion is equal to half the spending by all governments together on hospitals last year. Therefore, those MPs across the way who oppose all natural resource development—and that would be the New Democrats—are slowing development, which means that they are limiting the amount of money available for health care and other social programs.

Other benefits include jobs. About 800,000 Canadians work directly in natural resources, while another 800,000 are employed in sectors that serve the natural resource industries. Added up, close to 1.6 million Canadians depend on natural resources for their jobs, making up 10% of all employment in Canada.

Importantly, these are good jobs. My wife Linda and I have five children, and all five of them work in the natural resource sector. All five of them have good jobs because of the success of the businesses in the sector. Not only that, they are all married, and all five of their spouses work in the natural resource sector and have good wages and good jobs. That is something we should all take pride in, instead of working against it, as some across the floor would do.

At the same time, over the next 10 years over 600 major natural resource projects will be under way across this country. That means about $650 billion in spending on major natural resource projects over the next 10 years. With these opportunities at hand, the Government of Canada is working to increase Canadian trade and investment to facilitate the expansion of Canada's natural resource infrastructure. Sadly, the New Democrats are working against this development as well. They oppose any pipeline that has ever been proposed. They oppose projects like that, and they probably will continue to do so. They laugh about it, but it is a serious issue.

Now I want to talk a bit about our responsible resource development.

To capitalize on these opportunities, our plan for responsible resource development will ensure Canada's regulatory regime is among the most efficient and competitive anywhere in the world. Responsible resource development has put in place more predictable and timely reviews with fixed end dates and will end unnecessary duplication with provincial regimes that meet federal requirements to deliver on our shared objective of one project, one review.

These changes will save time and money, providing the certainty that investors demand. In fact, the reality is that with this accelerated and streamlined process, if a project is given the “no” answer and a company is told that it cannot go ahead, it would much rather that happen after a two-year period than after the eight years that it often takes now for some of the larger projects. Even if the answer is no, it is a lot easier for a company to take if it has invested less time and money in the project.

However, our approach is not just about developing resources efficiently; it is about developing them responsibly. For this reason, our government is committed to protecting the environment. Simply put, we will not approve projects unless they can be done safely.

It is not a question of either developing our natural resources or protecting the environment; we can do both and we must do both. Responsible resource development will ensure stronger environmental protection by increasing our focus on major projects with the most potential for significant environmental impacts on areas of federal jurisdiction and through the introduction of new measures to strengthen compliance and enforcement, including tough new fines for companies that break environmental safety laws.

The Government of Canada has also taken action to strengthen pipeline safety as a part of our plan for responsible resource development. For example, budget 2012 provided the National Energy Board with $13.5 million more to increase the number of annual inspections on oil and gas pipelines by 50%. That would increase the number of inspections by 50%, from 100 to 150, to improve pipeline safety right across this country.

Further, the government is doubling, from three to six, the number of comprehensive annual audits of oil and gas pipelines to identify potential safety issues before they occur.

On March 18, 2013, we also announced a comprehensive set of measures to ensure we have in place a world-class marine safety system, including a tanker safety expert panel to review Canada's spill response requirements, a review of the liability and compensation regime to ensure the polluter pays for all the costs of cleanup, scientific research on marine pollution risks, the creation of an incident command structure to strengthen emergency response oversight and new investments in navigational aids, inspections, surveillance and monitoring.

Our goal is to prevent incidents from happening, to strengthen our response capacity in the unlikely event that an incident does occur and to ensure that Canadian taxpayers are not left on the hook for the cost of the cleanup.

Responsible resource development also includes a commitment to ensuring more meaningful and consistent consultation with aboriginal peoples and exploring new economic partnerships with aboriginal groups.

The government also recently announced the appointment of a special federal representative to engage aboriginal communities on aboriginal opportunities related to proposed west coast energy infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines and marine terminals.

These efforts will help identify opportunities to facilitate greater aboriginal participation in resource development as well as in our ongoing efforts to strengthen environmental protection.

Quite frankly, we have already seen that development and that engagement of aboriginal people. In the oil sands we have seen companies that are led by aboriginal people and owned by aboriginal people. This model can certainly be expanded.

Just recently—in fact, yesterday—I came back from a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. I chair one of the economic committees in that group. We are doing a study on unconventional gas and oil production. At those meetings, we get the message very clearly that Canada had better be as quick as it possibly can in developing liquid natural gas terminals or it will simply be done by other countries around the world.

The United States already has applied for export permits for natural gas. Australia will very soon become the largest producer and exporter of natural gas in the world. The competition is there. We cannot just assume that in Canada we can take our time to develop these liquid natural gas exports and that the markets will be there for us. The reality is that with the cost of the infrastructure required to develop an LNG project, well over $10 billion, long-term contracts and investment from the country buying the gas are going to be involved. Off the west coast, we could expect China to be one of those, so it is important that we move ahead at the fastest pace that we possibly can.

In closing, I would just like to say that we have done one of the most beneficial things that governments have done in the last many years, probably since the free trade agreement. In putting in place this responsible resource development program, which is a comprehensive program, we have done an awful lot that will allow natural resource industries to move ahead in the future.

I am looking forward to that happening.