QUESTION PERIOD — Natural Resources
Liquefied Natural Gas
May 21, 2024
Senator Gold, foreign investment jobs and economic development should be the focus of the Trudeau government. Instead, what we’ve seen over the last nine years is a focus on ideological and environmental radicalism. Instead of embracing a strong business case that has been made over and over again about developing and exploiting our natural gas and transforming it into LNG, the Trudeau government continues to stand in the way. While we have friends and allies around the world like the United States, Qatar and Australia that are developing their LNG with fervour and creating more wealth for their societies, Canada is getting poorer and poorer.
Senator Gold, when is the Trudeau government going to get out of the way and allow for Canada and Canadians to start developing our natural gas industry and LNG, which will pave the way forward to wealth and prosperity once again for Canada?
Thank you for your question. This government has made and will continue to make important investments to ensure that our economy, whether our resource-based aspects or other aspects, is well positioned to take advantage of the changing capital markets and the changing demands of both citizens and corporations in this changing environment.
These include investments not only in our natural resources sector — to say nothing of the pipeline which is now on stream — but equally and more importantly in the workers of Canada who are looking for opportunities to take advantage of the next and future generations of well-paying, sustainable jobs. In that regard, the business case that this government is making is for investment in our future, which is a future that is for the benefit of all Canadians.
This government can’t even spell the word “business.” When you came into power Canada was an energy superpower, and that is no longer the case. We have lost ground and have been surpassed by other nations. That is the fact. The other fact is that we have had leaders from Germany, Italy, Poland, Greece, Japan, Taiwan — I can go on and on — who have come into this capital begging Canada to develop LNG.
The question remains: When will your government get out of the way and allow Canadians to build prosperity in LNG, which is badly needed all over the world?
The position of this government, senator, perhaps unlike other potential governments, is to be a partner in the development of a strategy to position Canada going forward. To say “get out of the way” is, with all respect, simply empty rhetorical nonsense.
