Liberals Kill Essential Bill To Support Canada's Energy Workers

Shannon Stubbs, Shadow Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness issued the following statement after the Liberals killed Bill C-221 - an essential bill to support Canada's energy workers:

Ottawa, ON – Today, the Liberals killed a Conservative Private Member’s Bill that would create jobs for energy workers while protecting the environment and taxpayers.
 
Introduced by MP Shannon Stubbs, Bill C-221, the Environmental Restoration Incentive Act, would attract private sector investment into at-risk small and medium sized oil and gas companies for the remediation of abandoned wells. This would have provided jobs for out of work energy companies who have the expertise to do the work, helped address environmental liabilities, and saved taxpayer dollars.
 
“Today, the Liberals once again made the decision to not support Canada’s energy workers,” said Stubbs. “It’s shameful that the Liberals voted for higher unemployment, less environmental protection, and more costs to taxpayers.”
 
Canadian energy producers lead the world in remediation and reclamation. Due to major bankruptcies and widespread economic collapse, the number of orphan wells in Canada rose more than 300% after 2015, caused in part by Canada's own anti-energy federal government.
 
The current orphan well systems are overwhelmed, and taxpayers are at risk of having to pay 100% of the associated costs. It is not evasion or neglect by small oil and gas producers, but rather the stark reality of their precarious economic positions.
 
“This tool is currently available to other sectors, such as exploration development in mining, fabrication of metals and other technologies such as wind turbines. There is no reason why it should not be available to Canada’s oil and gas sector,” said Stubbs. “By killing this bill, the Liberals hypocritically limit the use of this tool to the extraction of resources only – while blocking its use for reclamation and environmental purposes.”
 
Canada’s Conservatives will continue to put forward ideas that support Canada’s oil and gas workers, while protecting the environment and taxpayers’ dollars.