Shannon Stubbs, Member of Parliament for Lakeland and Conservative Shadow Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, returned to Parliament to hold the Liberal government to its promise to get major projects built in Canada, and to fight for Canadian energy and economic security and sovereignty, affordable groceries, and hope for all Canadians.

 

On January 27th, Stubbs moved the first Official Opposition Motion of the new year, for a day of debate about Canadian economic sovereignty. The motion, seconded by Carol Anstey, MP for Long Range Mountains in Newfoundland and Labrador, called on the Government to introduce a Canada Sovereignty Act that would re-establish Canada as a competitive, resource-producing nation and repeal laws that block development. The motion directed the government to repeal the “No New Pipelines Never Build Anything Anywhere” Bill C-69, the “Shipping Ban” Bill C-48, the federal industrial carbon tax that hikes the cost of everything Canadians buy across the supply chain, the oil and gas emissions cap, the ban on gas and diesel-powered vehicles, the energy censorship law, and the oil and gas cap. All laws that the U.S does not impose on itself. The Act would require the industry minister to table a comprehensive plan to prevent Canada’s inventions, technologies, intellectual property and strategic assets from being sold to foreign state-owned or -influenced interests; and safeguard Canadian ownership and control of critical technologies to ensure Canadian economic sovereignty; create a Canada-first reinvestment tax cut to eliminate capital gains taxes on reinvestments in Canadian businesses and projects; and create a free trade bonus that rewards provinces for removing interprovincial trade barriers.

 

 

Stubbs, laid out the need for a Canada Sovereignty Act that creates the conditions necessary for the private sector to build major projects:

 

“Canadians are vulnerable, struggling, worried about their futures and divided more now than ever before, because today, only press conferences and expansive rhetoric exist. There are no actual results for all the promises the Prime Minister made more than half a year ago about nation-building projects getting built at ‘speeds not seen in generations’.”

 

Stubbs pointed to stalled projects and the steady loss of capital as proof that Liberal laws continue to hold back development across Canada. She said:

 

“More than 60 major projects with real proponents in every natural resources sector are stuck in front of federal regulators with no end in sight. More investment flows out of Canada into the U.S. than the other way around, which is a historical anomaly that started in 2015.”

 

In closing, Stubbs made clear that Conservatives focus on results, not rhetoric, and challenged the Government to act. She said:

 

“Conservatives want big projects built in Canada by the private sector, efficiently, safely and affordably, with the top standards and Canadian materials for Canadians’ public interests. If the Liberals are truly serious about making Canada an energy superpower, they have to show it now. The stakes for our country are much too high to dither, debate and delay any more.”

 

Stubbs voted in favour of the motion alongside her Conservative colleagues. 

 

On February 4th, Stubbs also voted in favour of a Conservative motion calling on the Government to introduce a Food Affordability Plan that removes the Liberals’ hidden taxes on food, including the federal industrial carbon tax and the food packaging tax, to bring down grocery costs for Canadians.

At the start of the new year, Stubbs was named to the Special Joint Committee on the Exercise of Powers Under the Building Canada Act, a rare joint committee of MPs and Senators. The committee was created following Stubbs’ successful amendment to Bill C-5 to hold the Liberal government to account for the sweeping powers handed to the Prime Minister and Cabinet under that legislation.

At the Natural Resources committee, Stubbs questioned Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and the Hon. Dan McTeague P.C, former M.P for Pickering—Scarborough East, on anti-development legislation and the Government’s keep it in the ground agenda.

 

Stubbs said:

 

“There’s been much talk about C-5 fast-tracking to build projects at speeds never seen before and at the back of that bill is a list of laws and regulations that therefore the Liberals admit block building because they want to create a workaround about it. But now we have a scenario where politicians are recommending to politicians projects, the government refuses to define the national interest, they have an MoU, but actually nothing has happened at all, there will be a conditional approval probably sometime later, with major pieces still undone — nothing at all has happened.”

 

Stubbs continues to fight for the priorities and concerns of Lakeland families, and for the success and sovereignty of Canada’s energy and natural resources sector across the country. Alongside her Conservative colleagues, under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre, Stubbs will continue her work in Parliament and on two committees this session, including in her capacity as Shadow Minister for Energy and Natural Resources.