The Sad Liberal Reality
It's a sad reality that the Liberals have made Canada a place where governments suggest and select (and often fund with tax dollars) which favoured major resource and infrastructure projects can get through the red tape the Liberals themselves created, instead of where the private sector can invest in a predictable, fair, certain, competitive regulatory and fiscal environment. But after a decade of imposing anti-development roadblocks, the Liberals have created a work-around of their own laws and policies based on politicians' lists.
Conservatives have always wanted big projects to get built in Canada efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible way with revenue and equity options for Indigenous communities, and respect for jurisdiction.
Conservatives supported C-5 because it was necessary, but it is not sufficient. The Liberals have to actually fix the fundamentals - like all the laws and regulations that their Bill C-5 queue jumps which is an admission of the broken system - and permanently accelerate evidence-based approvals.
Conservatives will hold the Liberals to their promises on the projects they announced today, but the future is still uncertain. Because C-5 allows for the government to remove a project from the list at any time - uncertainty that one of my Conservative amendments would have fixed but the Liberals rejected it. The Liberals owe Canadians complete transparency and clarity on the timelines and progress of the projects at every step -- Conservatives will hold them to account.
But the truth remains that the Liberals' Bill C-5, and this process, is an admission of the broken system they created that caused billions in project and job losses that fled mostly to the U.S. during the last Liberal decade. Canada needs real change in all the laws and policies that block building in order to turbo charge the Canadian economy for the benefit of all, and to be self reliant, sovereign, and secure. That has always been the Conservative vision for Canada, and we are the only party that has been consistent about it.
Fix the flaws for all - including all the real projects with real proponents losing time and money stuck in federal red tape right now. Certainty and clarity is what will actually attract more private sector, domestic and foreign investment so badly needed, to create jobs and get big projects built in Canada with a government and regulatory system that doesn't require work-arounds for politically favoured projects.