Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, In 1973 an oil pricing crisis broke out. OPEC forced the price of oil to skyrocket. The price of oil quadrupled. That was over 40 years ago, yet we do not seem to learn here in Canada. Eastern Canada imports 80% of its oil from the same countries that caused the 1973 oil crisis, places like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, which are no more stable today than they were 40 years ago.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, Canada exports twice as much oil as eastern Canada imports, and 80% of the imported oil is from Arabia and Venezuela, hardly very secure places to count on for the future. Even dumber, Canada exports at a 20% to 30% discount off world prices and imports the most expensive oil in the world, Brent Crude.

Natural Resources  Here is where we are now after eight years of haphazard energy policy from the Conservatives. Without the means to get western oil to eastern Canada, Canadians from Halifax to Thunder Bay have been forced to import the world's most expensive foreign oil from countries like Venezuela, Africa and the Middle East. All the while, the government has been shipping our unrefined resources to the U.S.A. at much lower prices.

Natural Resources  Supporting the transport of Canadian oil across the country would give western Canada a new market for our oil and give eastern Canada a more dependable and cheaper source of energy, but only if we refine it here for our use first.

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, two years ago, Mark Carney and I called for Alberta oil to flow to eastern Canada, but this is a good idea only if we require that the pipeline fuel Canadian jobs and energy security. We export discounted crude while eastern Canada depends on expensive oil from Arabia and Venezuela.

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, eastern Canada imports 80% of its oil from places like Arabia and Venezuela, the world's most expensive and risky oil, while we export twice as much as we import, as well as the jobs that go with it, as raw crude to the U.S.A. at a 20% to 30% discount.

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, there are winners and losers in a Canada with no energy policy. Eastern Canadians are the losers. Easterners are captive to expensive, insecure, imported oil. Easterners pay a lot for gasoline and home heating oil. Canada does need a new pipeline to eastern Canada.

Natural Resources  Instead of rushing to ship our unprocessed oil elsewhere, the government should be looking out for Canadian interests and Canadian national energy security. Without the infrastructure to transport western oil across the country, eastern Canada has been forced to import expensive foreign oil from unstable regimes like Venezuela and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Environment  It is costing the Canadian economy billions every year and continues our dependence in Thunder Bay—Superior North and all of eastern Canada on unsustainable, expensive, and dangerous foreign oil. Most Canadians support pricing carbon. The Conservatives have so far chosen ideology over evidence and over the desire of most Canadians.

Oil and Gas Industry  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' lack of a coherent energy strategy is hurting Canada. We eastern Canadians are captive to expensive, insecure, imported oil. We pay a lot for gasoline and home heating oil, especially in northwestern Ontario. Incredibly, there is more than enough oil produced in western Canada to meet all our needs, but it is exported for much less than eastern Canada pays for foreign oil.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is a bad deal for Canada in terms of Canadian strategic resources, especially energy resources. We already have a bad deal with the United States where it gets a 30% discount, while eastern Canada buys expensive oil from Venezuela and Arabia.

Natural Resources  Speaker, the government wants to bulldoze a reckless route through B.C. to ship raw bitumen to communist China as fast as possible, while eastern Canadians are captive to expensive, insecure imported oil. Easterners pay a lot for gasoline and home heating oil. We must build a new pipeline to bring western petroleum to eastern Canada.

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not want to ship our oil to red China at discount prices through the gateway pipeline, especially when eastern Canada depends on expensive imports. If we are going to build any pipeline—

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Speaker, my question to the hon. member is about the government that allegedly believes in economic development. Today in Bloomberg, out of New York, there is the title, “Canada Is World's Biggest Oil Loser With Price Spread”. It talks about rushing oil off to China in low value-added form, instead of to eastern Canada where we need it. Jim Prentice added that it: ....highlights the importance and potentially the value of pipelines in Canada that move our oil on an east-west axis....

Foreign Takeovers  Instead of shipping raw resources abroad, having a pipeline from western Canada to eastern Canada would help stem the loss of $19 billion a year from the Canadian economy. Will this strategic interest be helped in any way by selling Nexen to China's CNOOC? There is even an existing natural gas pipeline route from west to east, going through Thunder Bay—Superior North.