Alberta Senator Doug Black said Canada needs to get its competitive mojo back.
“We have a shrinking economy because we have taken our eyes off the ball,” said Black in a speech Friday to the Lacombe Rotary Club.
Where the U.S. is lowering taxes and trimming regulations, Canada is bringing in a carbon tax and adding red tape.
“The result is a widening gulf competitively,” said Black.
For Alberta, new economic realities have been keenly felt.
Once reliant on Alberta oil, the U.S. no longer needs Canadian energy.
Making things even more challenging, he said, is Alberta’s primary industry, energy, is “out of favour in Ottawa right now.
“The oilsands are the bogeyman of this government.”
Black said projects such as the Trans Mountain Pipeline are vital to Canada’s and Alberta’s future success.
The independent senator from Calgary has turned that conviction into a private member’s bill, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project Act, which recognizes that the project is in the national interest and critical to Canada’s future prosperity.
If the bill becomes law, the project, its operation and all of the work connected with it, fall under federal jurisdiction and cannot be blocked by a province or municipalities — in this case B.C., Burnaby and Vancouver.
Black was sharply critical of B.C. efforts to block the project, which included two MPs disobeying an injunction.
“What is going on in British Columbia now is a complete breach of the rule of law.”
The project is more than a means to get oil to tide water, it is a symbol, he said.
“It is a symbol of the fact that if we do not get this built that Canada is closed for business.
“We are sending the signal internationally that Canada is the country where projects come to die.”
Canada’s inability to get its energy to market has created a price differential against world prices that costs the country $15 billion a year, he said.
The act is in the process of second reading and Black is optimistic it will pass.
“I believe I have the strong support of the Senate for the bill.”
Once passed, it would go to the House of Commons.
“That’s when the wolf is among the chickens,” he joked.
Oil is not the only area where Canada, a nation built on trade, is lagging. Black said Malaysia recently turned to Australia for an agricultural product because Canada could not guarantee delivery.
“We’re getting a reputation of not being able to deliver our goods.”
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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