QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Natural Resources
Market Diversification
October 9, 2025
Minister, my questions relate to diversifying our markets in light of the U.S. President’s repeated threats to annex Canada.
The Keystone XL pipeline project resurfaced this week during discussions between our Prime Minister and President Trump. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, last year, Canada exported 80% of its crude oil to the United States.
How can we talk about wanting to diversify our markets to make us less dependent on our American neighbour and still consider building new pipelines to the United States?
We didn’t ask for this trade war. It was imposed upon us. The United States has decided they want to change the way the world works. We spent 40 years building a free-trade relationship with the United States, believing they would be multilateralist free traders, and they are no longer doing that.
We are in a mercantilist world where it’s a card game. We need to play our cards. We have a number of cards they want. We have things we need to get. We are incredibly fortunate in that we have the best trade deal in the world. No other country in the world has 85% of their products that transact tariff-free. Fifteen per cent in five or six sectors, like steel, aluminum and autos, is being attacked right now. He has a whole plan around how he is trying to hobble our economy.
We need to play our cards to get the best deal we can for Canadians. If we do things where we give them some cards, we will get something for it.
Should we be looking at putting tariffs on oil exports to subsidize the investments we should be making in market diversification?
I’ll say the same thing I said to the other senator. I have negotiated many deals in my career. I have never found it helpful to negotiate those deals in public. They are much better done in private.
As I believe is common knowledge, Minister LeBlanc is in Washington right now. You can rest assured we are working hard to make sure Canada gets the best deal possible.
