Chris Warkentin, Member of Parliament for Grande Prairie – Mackenzie, joined Conservative
colleagues in demanding the Federal Government take action to support workers in Canada’s energy
sector.
“Workers in our energy sector have been disproportionately affected by global events and damaging
government policy,” Warkentin said. “It’s time for the federal government to finally step up to the plate
and deliver the support they promised for workers and businesses that rely on the natural resource
sector.”
“We need to make sure that energy workers in the Peace Country have jobs to return to following the
COVID-19 crisis,” Warkentin said. “The Liberal government promised a package for Canada’s energy
sector, in ‘hours’ or ‘days,’ certainly ‘not weeks.’ Canadians need them to do so, now.”
“Conservatives urge the government to finalize and release their action plan to help energy workers
and the oil and gas sector. They should:
1. Deliver on their promise to provide financial tools to increase liquidity and to recapitalize small
and medium oil and gas employers, including credit facilities such as loan guarantees and
accounts receivable insurance.
2. Reduce costs by cancelling the carbon tax – an added cost and barrier to investment, and
makes life less affordable for all Canadians; and immediately put on hold plans for the globally
unprecedented Liberal fuel standard that will hike costs everywhere.
3. Encourage investment in Canada by working with regulators to speed-up assessments for the
twenty-billion dollars’ worth of oil and gas projects in the queue, including the Énergie
Saguenay LNG plant in Quebec.
4. Provide regulatory certainty by committing to overhaul Bill C-69, and immediately adopt all the
Senate amendments that were supported by the private sector and all provincial and territorial
leaders.
5. Expand access to export markets and get pipelines built by using every federal tool to expedite
construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion; advance the Keystone XL and Line 3
replacement pipelines; repeal C-48, the oil shipping ban, and work with proponents to set the
conditions for a dedicated export pipeline to the growing Asia Pacific markets, and for a west
to east cross country pipeline to secure domestic supply and export to Europe.”
“We believe that these actions will save jobs now and create long term prosperity for communities
across Canada.” Warkentin continued, “We know that if we unleash the opportunities and the
innovation in our energy sector Canada will be much better positioned to recover from this economic
crisis.”
“Conservatives will continue to stand up for workers in Canada’s energy sector and put forward
constructive solutions to ensure Canadians are supported during the COVID-19 crisis.”