Trudeau ignoring desperate crisis in energy sector

Justin Trudeau is deceiving Canadians when he says he supports Canada’s energy sector. He personally gave the order to cancel the Northern Gateway pipeline and killed the Energy East pipeline with red tape and regulations. Justin Trudeau made the choice to cancel two major export pipelines– and that choice is a direct cause of the price discount on Canadian oil.

Last summer the Prime Minister promised construction would begin on the Trans Mountain Expansion when the government purchased the project. That has turned out to be false. When asked if the construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion would begin next spring, all the Prime Minister could offer was a weak, “I hope so.” This response is unacceptable after spending $4.5 billion tax dollars to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

When asked about investments in Canada being cancelled as a result of his ‘no more pipelines’ Bill C-69, the Prime Minister said, quote, “I’m not really going to engage with hypotheticals right now.” The reality is that Bill C-69 will halt investment in Canada’s energy sector. Industry associations, indigenous organizations and large employers have made it clear, if C-69 goes forward, large projects will not proceed. This will cost Canada hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars a year.

The Prime Minister also stated, that “if anyone comes forward with constructive suggestions on how we can improve C-69…we are listening.” Canadian oil and gas experts and job creators have been clear: Bill C-69 needs to be cancelled or completely re-written. Just this week Total Energy Services announced they were leaving Canada after 22 years of doing business here – their CEO specifically mentioned Bill C-69 was the final straw. The fact is that the Prime Minister’s anti-energy policies are killing Canadian jobs.

The Prime Minister also deceived those in the energy sector when he said the accelerated capital costs announced in the budget will help the oil and gas sector. The Liberal mini-budget allows the manufacturing sector to write off 100 per cent of new capital costs. However, pipelines and oil and gas equipment do not qualify for this benefit. For the energy sector, in most cases the Liberals are only allowing 15 per cent of capital costs to be written off, and in some cases, as low as six per cent.

Justin Trudeau has presided over the greatest loss of investment in Canadian energy since the 1940s. So far over $100 billion has been cancelled in energy projects on Justin Trudeau’s watch. The Bank of Canada has predicted zero new investment in Canadian oil and gas after 2019. This is a direct consequence of his antienergy policies.

The only solution to the price discount on Canadian oil, and the flight of capital from the energy sector is to defeat Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019. Only a Conservative government will fix Justin Trudeau’s sabotage of Canada’s oil and gas sector and bring investment back to Canada.