The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - January 28, 2021


Keystone XL Expansion


Episode Stats


Length

26 minutes

Words per minute

179.42511

Word count

4,694

Sentence count

274

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, three other members of Parliament join me to discuss the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project and the impact it will have on their communities and the rest of the country. We also discuss the impact on Indigenous Peoples and the communities they live in.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint.
00:00:09.680 It is Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:12.320 I'm your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton-Caworthalakes-Brock.
00:00:16.320 Thank you so much for joining us.
00:00:18.240 As always, we have an amazing show lined up for you.
00:00:20.800 Actually, something a little different this time.
00:00:22.520 We're going to do a panel discussion with three other members of Parliament on a decision
00:00:27.040 that will affect pretty much every corner of this great country.
00:00:31.700 The cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, a decision made by the new president of the
00:00:36.040 United States, Joe Biden, to cancel that permit that allows the project to go forward.
00:00:40.580 So with me, and we need you to please subscribe, comment, share this program, help us push back
00:00:47.720 against the ever-moving liberal agenda, especially on a topic this important.
00:00:51.720 And of course, if you can't listen to it and watch it right now on Facebook, you can download
00:00:56.440 this later on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it.
00:01:01.100 It's out there because the content is so important.
00:01:03.680 And that message that we need your help with, again, we need to edge into your social network.
00:01:10.560 Hit your friends that might be open to hearing this Conservative message because it is very
00:01:14.500 important because we need to ensure that the Conservative Party of Canada is the next government
00:01:18.300 of this great Canada country in order to ensure economic success and prosperity going forward.
00:01:24.260 Joining me, as I mentioned, three members of Parliament to talk about the Keystone XL pipeline
00:01:29.780 cancellation.
00:01:30.540 We have Greg McLean.
00:01:31.660 He's the Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre.
00:01:33.460 He's also the Shadow Minister for Natural Resources.
00:01:36.600 We have on the line as well, Damien Keurig.
00:01:38.980 He's the Member of Parliament for Battle River Crowfoot.
00:01:41.660 That's where the starting point in Hardesty, Alberta, the Keystone XL pipeline is.
00:01:46.460 We're going to talk to him about local reaction and also on the Indigenous side of things,
00:01:51.860 the contribution agreements that were in place to allow those communities to succeed, to prosper.
00:01:58.160 They've now been impacted.
00:01:59.700 We have Gary Vidal.
00:02:00.680 He's the Member of Parliament for Disnethy, Mrs. Nippy, Churchill River, and also the Shadow
00:02:06.500 Minister for Indigenous Services.
00:02:08.480 Thank you, gentlemen, for joining us.
00:02:10.820 Thanks for having us, Jamie.
00:02:11.840 Thanks, Jamie.
00:02:12.140 Greg, let's talk.
00:02:13.440 Let's start with you first.
00:02:14.400 You're the Shadow Minister for Natural Resources.
00:02:16.320 This is something that is compounding the problem here in Canada, the fact that we are
00:02:24.100 not able to get more of our energy to market.
00:02:27.160 The cancellation of this project, Jamie, represents failure amongst so many files.
00:02:32.840 You think about the environmental failure that's going to happen here because we're not
00:02:36.200 getting a better, more environmentally produced oil to market.
00:02:39.700 And the U.S. Gulf Coast has the perfect setup for more fire energies for us to get a heavy
00:02:45.440 oil that's mined up in northern Alberta right to market.
00:02:50.080 A lot of Canadians don't know this, but we receive a strong discount on our oil as a result
00:02:55.680 of the fact that we have to ship it by rail and other means.
00:02:59.100 We're constrained in that.
00:03:00.300 So we get about a $15 discount to West Texas Intermediate for our oil.
00:03:05.080 That translates for the amount of oil we ship to about a $16 billion per year differential
00:03:11.140 that the country doesn't receive.
00:03:12.740 That money isn't just disappearing.
00:03:14.980 That money goes elsewhere, primarily to the United States.
00:03:18.520 So recognize how we're actually losing value in that process.
00:03:21.640 But the cancellation of this project impacts that balance of payments transfer significantly.
00:03:29.860 It also affects the environment because now those refineries have to refine oil
00:03:34.740 from less environmentally friendly jurisdictions.
00:03:38.400 And that's a problem.
00:03:39.820 It also hurts us economically and, of course, socially, as Gary's going to tell about how
00:03:44.640 far we've come in dealing with the social aspects of oil and gas in Canada.
00:03:49.980 So, Damien, let me get this straight.
00:03:51.900 We've had 10 months of sustained unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:03:56.800 We've had billions of dollars lost in wages across this country.
00:04:00.740 And one of the things I think we need to fuel the economic recovery is energy.
00:04:06.260 So what are you hearing on the ground in Hardesty and around your riding?
00:04:09.240 Jamie, you're absolutely right.
00:04:11.440 You know, our entire country has been hit hard.
00:04:14.020 And Alberta has really faced a double whammy. 1.00
00:04:16.260 Not only has it been COVID, but it's been about half a decade of pain within the energy
00:04:20.320 sector, sustained high unemployment rates.
00:04:23.120 And I'll tell you, the approval of and the start of construction on Keystone XL brought
00:04:28.200 a glimmer of hope to a region that has been hammered time and time again throughout the
00:04:33.480 last half decade or so.
00:04:34.960 And I've heard numerous stories.
00:04:37.120 And last night in the emergency debate we had, I outlined a few of them from those who
00:04:41.020 are directly affected, like welders, pipe fitters, heavy equipment operators, but also
00:04:44.680 seniors who were boarding these employees who could now afford to not have to choose between
00:04:51.900 groceries and paying their bills at the end of the month.
00:04:54.360 That single mom who was able to send her kids to piano lessons again. 0.93
00:04:57.760 Those sorts of things are the untold impacts of this.
00:05:01.140 You know, from Hardesty and the entire Alberta side of this pipeline route, there's about 200
00:05:05.600 kilometers of pipe that's mostly in the ground.
00:05:08.740 And now there's a lot of uncertainty about what that looks like.
00:05:11.120 Jamie, this is the sort of thing that as a member of parliament, you never want to have
00:05:14.400 to stand up and talk about about a thousand people losing their jobs.
00:05:18.160 It's absolutely devastating.
00:05:19.300 And I think it speaks to the utter failure of this government to stand up for not just
00:05:24.200 Albertans and not just for folks in my region, but for the entire country.
00:05:27.460 The economic consequences of this truly shake across this country.
00:05:33.280 And it's a national shame that the Trudeau liberals don't recognize that.
00:05:37.920 Now, Gary, you've been very active on social media, promoting the fact that a number of
00:05:42.060 indigenous communities are going to lose out on contribution agreements that would have
00:05:45.820 allowed them to continue their path to prosperity.
00:05:48.700 Why don't you tell us a bit about that?
00:05:51.080 You know, Jamie, I very much appreciated last night in the emergency debate and some of the
00:05:55.120 stuff going on yesterday, how our team brought that to the forefront.
00:05:59.200 When I first started advocating on social media, I did that because I think that was a voice
00:06:04.300 that wasn't being brought to the table on the lost opportunity for the indigenous communities
00:06:09.300 that were affected by this.
00:06:10.460 There's particularly five First Nations communities that have formed what's called the National
00:06:15.660 Law Energy Group.
00:06:17.720 And I had the privilege this summer of actually going and meeting with Chief Alvin Francis from
00:06:22.060 Nekaneet First Nation.
00:06:23.100 And he was the president of this group.
00:06:24.700 And they were going to be making about a billion dollar equity investment in this project.
00:06:28.900 And when you listen to Chief Francis as an example of many, he talks about the high employment
00:06:34.780 in his community and he talks about the 30 year opportunity that this was going to create
00:06:40.000 for his community to solve things like, I mean, the people were already envisioning soccer
00:06:46.480 fields and rinks and improved education and housing and other recreational and social services
00:06:52.400 that would be prevalent in his community if this went ahead.
00:06:57.140 And now, I mean, to his credit, he's a glass half full kind of guy rather than a glass half
00:07:02.360 empty, and he's still very optimistic about leading his community in new ways.
00:07:06.860 But, you know, the loss to these communities is tremendous.
00:07:10.220 One other First Nations leader talks about being a kick in the teeth.
00:07:14.480 Dale Swampy, the president of the National Coalition of Chiefs, talks about the opportunity
00:07:20.080 lost and the social impact of that lost opportunity on First Nations and Maiti communities.
00:07:26.060 Ron Quittell, who's a president of a Maiti group from Fort Mackay, he talks about the same
00:07:33.280 thing that people don't believe that First Nations or Indigenous groups want to be participating
00:07:38.100 in these things, but they do.
00:07:39.700 And his concern is that all we hear is kind of the extreme left and the extreme right,
00:07:44.080 but we don't hear the voices of the moderates.
00:07:47.240 And a number of these are Indigenous leaders that are taking that opportunity to improve the
00:07:51.680 lives of their communities.
00:07:52.660 Now, gentlemen, this is the first time we've done this kind of panel discussion.
00:07:57.000 We have an MP from Saskatchewan, two from Alberta.
00:07:59.640 Let's talk about the overall price of energy, because I've been reading articles, the fact
00:08:04.180 that this is yet another cancellation of a project that would have had benefits right
00:08:08.200 across the country and into the United States for a certain amount.
00:08:11.960 But at the end of the day, the demand for energy is not going down in the foreseeable future.
00:08:17.000 Yes, I'm sure we'd all like to see eventually we phase out of it.
00:08:20.960 But at this point, it doesn't look like the demand for energy is going away.
00:08:24.240 So if we're not able to increase the supply, the bad actors will fill that gap.
00:08:30.320 Yeah, yeah.
00:08:31.600 Sorry, Damien, you go ahead.
00:08:33.360 My apologies.
00:08:34.260 Yeah, no, no, you're absolutely right, Jamie.
00:08:36.380 And we're seeing here evidence of hypocrisy on the highest level.
00:08:42.040 We are seeing that while the liberal, environmental, hypocritical argument is campaigning to shut
00:08:51.700 down Alberta energy, devastating our economy locally, seeing people suffer, impacting First
00:08:56.820 Nations, it's hypocritical in the highest level because those energy demands, that global
00:09:05.860 growth, which is projected to continue for decades to come, that growth in oil demand is going
00:09:12.300 to be filled by dictators and despots and from jurisdictions that don't have the same
00:09:17.340 standards, don't have the same environmental, ethical or human rights understanding that
00:09:24.400 we do.
00:09:24.720 And yet Canada leads the world in this industry, and yet we're the ones paying the price for
00:09:31.000 this sort of poor decision making.
00:09:34.540 And let me follow on that.
00:09:36.440 And thank you, Damien.
00:09:38.300 Last year, the Russians started a $260 billion oil development in their north.
00:09:46.760 That's very significant to the world.
00:09:48.800 So they're actually pricing in a higher price for energy as they continue to develop their
00:09:53.300 resources.
00:09:54.340 We're retreating.
00:09:55.440 We have to realize where our energy comes from in North America.
00:09:59.040 It comes a lot from hydrocarbons.
00:10:01.840 What we have to do to address that, of course, is decarbonize our economy and make sure that
00:10:05.800 we are producing an environmentally friendly power solution.
00:10:09.620 We're going to have power requirements increasing for decades.
00:10:13.880 So in as much as people think about getting rid of hydrocarbons, they have to think about
00:10:19.740 what they're going to replace that with.
00:10:21.600 And when they talk about replacing that with electricity, right now, clean energy in Canada,
00:10:26.460 which includes hydroelectric power, accounts for 17% of the power produced in Canada.
00:10:33.040 So if you're talking about a set of dams and windmills and solar panels, that it's going
00:10:37.880 to be six times the clean energy footprint we have in Canada right now.
00:10:42.660 So that's a long time horizon.
00:10:44.980 And every one of these, you think about how long it takes to actually build a dam, it
00:10:47.980 takes a decade.
00:10:49.200 And they usually go about 100% over budget.
00:10:52.200 We've got three recent examples of that where we're actually cost benefit, if you actually
00:10:56.340 look at it from the beginning, doesn't serve its purpose.
00:10:59.540 They're going to cancel potentially here site C based in British Columbia, based on the economics
00:11:04.620 alone, because it no longer makes sense based on the extra costs and the instability of
00:11:09.800 the dam itself that they've exposed in the actual development here, where we're going
00:11:13.600 to get all this power.
00:11:15.000 But at the same time, I want to make sure that people know, it's our job to address the
00:11:20.040 pollution effects that come from all our power.
00:11:22.180 That includes the pollution from hydro, that includes the pollution from nuclear, that includes
00:11:25.840 the pollution from hydrocarbons.
00:11:28.040 We need in hydrocarbons, it is primarily CO2.
00:11:31.300 We need to make sure that we pull that carbon out.
00:11:33.560 And I think you saw my bill just before Christmas, Jamie, where we talk about carbon capture,
00:11:38.320 utilization and storage.
00:11:39.660 That is about pulling carbon out of the equation and actually giving people a tax credit for
00:11:45.360 it.
00:11:45.760 So we're enabling people to produce cleaner energy.
00:11:50.640 Now, yes, absolutely.
00:11:52.800 And as someone from Ontario who had to go through the Ontario Liberals green energy plan that saw
00:11:58.660 billions poured into solar and wind turbines only to produce less than 5% of the province's
00:12:04.340 entire needs is quite frustrating because we saw the level of energy poverty that increased
00:12:09.080 as a result.
00:12:10.820 But Gary, maybe you could share some of the frustration, the fact, and I'll also get Damien
00:12:15.700 and Greg to talk about this as well.
00:12:17.380 We mentioned it a bit off air, was the level of frustration based on the fact that these projects,
00:12:23.200 Keystone and Energy East and others, are not being cancelled because of market decisions.
00:12:29.060 And I think that's very specific to what we have to clear up with some of those not paying
00:12:34.540 attention to this is that, you know, you see the rhetoric from the left, but they always
00:12:39.780 talk about it, but they forget the fact that it's not the market making the decisions to
00:12:43.640 cancel these projects.
00:12:45.000 The investors are more than prepared to go into this.
00:12:47.320 It is the fact that politicians are the ones putting barriers in place to allow business
00:12:53.440 to succeed and communities such as Indigenous communities to prosper.
00:12:59.000 Yeah, for sure, Jamie.
00:13:00.280 I would probably actually respond with a couple of quotes from the gentleman I talked about
00:13:05.340 earlier and Chief Francis would be a good one.
00:13:08.040 He says, you know what, the world is still using a lot of oil and gas every day, so it may
00:13:12.180 as well come from a country that produces in the most ethical, environmentally sound as possible.
00:13:16.460 It's not like the oil and gas won't be used if a pipeline isn't built.
00:13:20.260 It will be consumed, but will be supplied from places that don't honour Mother Earth as much
00:13:25.060 as we do.
00:13:25.640 And my point there is that the political aspect of this is the pressure from the radical left
00:13:32.360 that's forcing his issues.
00:13:35.640 And Ron Quintel says, and again, this is the president of the Fort Mackay-Madee community,
00:13:40.700 he says, we're able to look at investing in alternative energy sources through the revenues
00:13:46.780 from oil sands development.
00:13:48.720 We've installed brand new solar panels.
00:13:50.660 We're looking at multiple mega solar projects, and we'll only be able to afford that by using
00:13:55.560 revenues from oil sands development.
00:13:58.000 So I applaud the president-elect, he said at the time, being serious about climate strategy,
00:14:02.740 but the reality is the oil will get there one way or the other, and a pipeline is scientifically
00:14:08.700 the safest way to transport oil.
00:14:10.840 So, you know, looking through the eyes of these Indigenous leaders, they get that this
00:14:15.740 is about the political activists and not about the reality.
00:14:20.080 Well, we saw the same thing in Wet'suwet'en not too long ago, the voices of those elected
00:14:24.840 band chiefs and councillors were completely put to the side, while the media and the left
00:14:31.660 only focused on a handful of others, which actually severely hampered the ability for
00:14:37.860 those communities, which were isolated in a number of ways to get on the scale to, or
00:14:43.740 on the path to economic prosperity.
00:14:45.240 Did either of you, Damien or Greg, want to comment on the fact that it's not the market
00:14:49.680 deciding it's the politicians?
00:14:52.720 Absolutely.
00:14:53.540 And one thing I'd like to add to Gary's point is that Keystone XL was a pipeline that had
00:14:58.360 a net zero emissions profile.
00:15:00.860 So the company was spending $1.8 billion on alternative energy all along the route to
00:15:07.320 power the pipeline.
00:15:08.220 You think about that, that's a transportation mechanism with no environmental footprint whatsoever
00:15:12.800 from a CO2 perspective.
00:15:14.820 Fantastic.
00:15:15.440 That's exactly what we're supposed to be aiming for.
00:15:17.980 And suddenly we cut that off.
00:15:20.840 I said this earlier, but recognize that the oil actually getting to market there represents
00:15:25.080 about a 20% discount in CO2 emissions versus the other oil that's going to find its way
00:15:31.660 into those refineries right now.
00:15:33.420 What have we gained here?
00:15:34.840 Absolutely nothing.
00:15:35.880 What have we lost?
00:15:36.580 We've lost on the environment.
00:15:38.080 We've lost on clean energy and we've lost on the economy.
00:15:41.760 This is a complete loss.
00:15:43.020 We need to actually do better in our relationships with the United States.
00:15:47.840 Damien?
00:15:49.240 It's incredibly frustrating that you have the prime minister capitulate after, you know,
00:15:54.120 he had months to be working with the incoming Biden administration.
00:15:58.760 But instead, ironically, a prime minister that cares nothing about his own election promises
00:16:04.980 simply comes out and says, well, it's time to give up because that was an election promise
00:16:09.520 that our neighbors to the South made.
00:16:11.340 Well, that's not good enough.
00:16:13.760 And certainly in Alberta and across Canada, you see that the science and the facts are clear
00:16:19.380 that this is the right project, that this is the right sort of thing that our nation
00:16:22.460 needs and it speaks clearly, I think, that Justin Trudeau and his government and a number
00:16:30.440 of the activists within his government that at different times throughout their political
00:16:35.580 careers and prior to, like the heritage minister, have celebrated the fact that Alberta energy
00:16:41.720 has been landlocked.
00:16:42.860 This seems to have been the plan all along.
00:16:44.840 And then now they can conveniently say, and even last night, you know, there was a number
00:16:48.020 of times where liberal MPs would say somewhat along the lines of the right thing.
00:16:54.800 Well, saying the right things, but not backing it up with action is, like I said before, a
00:17:00.460 national shame.
00:17:01.200 And it speaks to the hypocrisy that exists within the Liberal Party and some of the activism
00:17:07.440 that is bent on shutting down Canadian energy, yet ignoring the benefits that this industry
00:17:15.860 brings both to Canada, but also the world.
00:17:17.860 Look, the world needs more Canada and that includes more Canadian energy.
00:17:22.520 And it's unfortunate that, you know, we're now discussing this from the perspective of
00:17:27.140 a project that's been shut down and the devastating impacts and long-term implications that this
00:17:31.660 has all across Canada.
00:17:32.820 I think another kick we have, too, is the Buy American Plan that President Biden has signed
00:17:38.180 in, basically increasing the level of content of American-produced goods into government
00:17:44.500 procurement.
00:17:46.140 What else does this mean to our industries or manufacturing?
00:17:52.540 Well, I'll lead in that.
00:17:53.820 I think it's something we have to look at very carefully here.
00:17:56.680 And number one, it's a treasured relationship we have with the United States.
00:18:00.760 It has been for decades.
00:18:02.380 Mulroney-Reagan put that together because we were working together at that point in time.
00:18:07.020 Everybody recognized, once that was over the goal line, that this is a mutually dependent,
00:18:12.660 mutually advantageous arrangement, a free trade agreement between two of the world's leading
00:18:17.940 democracies.
00:18:19.120 And it worked so well for years.
00:18:20.920 But you watch it get chipped away by each administration that, of course, is always playing
00:18:25.560 to local interests.
00:18:27.020 Now, we don't have that advantage in Canada because we do need this relationship.
00:18:31.080 So much of our trade is dependent upon the U.S.
00:18:33.140 So much of our energy trade, particularly, is dependent on the United States.
00:18:38.240 That's something we can't let go.
00:18:39.600 And now we're in a monopsony situation where we have literally one buyer of our resource.
00:18:45.580 They are the price dictator to us. 0.92
00:18:48.080 One of the biggest mistakes this current government made was cancelling Northern Gateway, which
00:18:52.260 actually would have diversified our oil markets to offshore markets.
00:18:57.420 Now we're stuck back in that position where we only have one buyer.
00:19:00.860 This is a problem.
00:19:01.600 This is going to continue to be a problem with this new government.
00:19:04.880 So the government, our government needs to get ahead of this and actually start solidifying
00:19:09.260 its relationships, not just with the U.S. administration, but with that interconnectedness
00:19:14.800 that happens across the border with provinces and states, ambassadors everywhere through the
00:19:20.540 chain to make sure that our products fit in somewhere in that Buy America policy.
00:19:26.200 And I'm sure many of you have heard it already, but it's not all American politicians are
00:19:31.440 against the Keystone XL pipeline.
00:19:32.920 There are some that are very welcoming to that project because they know of the long-term
00:19:38.460 benefits on both sides of the border.
00:19:41.560 Correct.
00:19:42.220 And as I said earlier, Jamie, this morning I was on a podcast with the congressman in Utah,
00:19:47.720 Congressman John Curtis, and he went through that very much for the ears in the United States
00:19:59.260 that want to hear like, what does this entail?
00:20:01.840 We've canceled the pipeline.
00:20:03.200 What are the consequences of canceling a pipeline of this nature?
00:20:07.060 Did it do anything for the environment?
00:20:08.560 And the assessment, of course, is no, it actually did negative things for the environment.
00:20:12.180 Did it do anything for the economy in the United States or Canada?
00:20:14.660 Yes, it was negative for both our economies.
00:20:17.760 So what is the net impact at the end of the day here?
00:20:19.860 And how do we actually do better going forward?
00:20:21.820 But it's important we know this on both sides of the border.
00:20:25.300 So we have a couple of minutes left.
00:20:26.700 Maybe we'll just do a recap.
00:20:28.360 There was an emergency debate last night on the Keystone XL pipeline.
00:20:31.800 Maybe we can start with Damien because, like I mentioned earlier, the pipeline originates
00:20:36.800 in Hardesty and Battle River Crowfoot.
00:20:39.040 Then we'll go to Gary and Mr. McLean for the closing arguments and comments.
00:20:43.940 So, Damien, what was your takeaway from that debate?
00:20:47.300 No, I was incredibly proud of our entire Conservative team last night.
00:20:50.800 We all banded together around a national cause that, yes, this has a significant impact on
00:20:55.860 the region that I have the honour of representing.
00:20:58.140 It has a significant impact on Alberta.
00:21:00.200 But across the country, we saw Conservatives stand up for Canada, stand up for what's right,
00:21:06.800 stand up for the environment.
00:21:08.160 And to make that case very articulately, to call out the failures of the Trudeau Liberals
00:21:12.280 and to call out other parties on the left that have gone as far as to celebrating the
00:21:18.440 loss of these jobs.
00:21:19.500 You know, I could not be more proud to be a Conservative in the fact that Conservatives
00:21:23.220 are the right voice to represent what's best for the region that I represent, for Alberta
00:21:29.820 and for our country and working together to defeat the leftist activist causes that are
00:21:35.740 causing, you know, unbelievable pain and hardship across our country.
00:21:40.140 And last night, that debate was a part of that.
00:21:42.420 And I know that that's the culmination of months of work behind the scenes, making sure that
00:21:49.040 Conservatives are doing our part, not just for the politics of it, but because it's
00:21:53.060 what's best for Canada.
00:21:54.240 And that makes me proud to be a Conservative.
00:21:56.660 Excellent.
00:21:57.200 Gary?
00:21:58.000 You know what, I would probably say this, Jamie.
00:22:00.720 One of the things we've heard from this government over and over again, that the relationship with
00:22:04.580 Indigenous people is the most important relationship to them.
00:22:07.120 And so, you know, I challenged the minister in question period yesterday that what have
00:22:13.640 you done to advocate for Keystone XL within government so that this opportunity that is
00:22:19.480 being lost by Indigenous communities could be furthered?
00:22:25.220 And, you know, for the last couple of years, I've talked lots.
00:22:27.480 I'm trying to bring that Indigenous voice because I represent a riding that has 70% Indigenous
00:22:32.820 people in my riding.
00:22:33.700 We have probably some of the best examples in my riding of some of the great investments
00:22:39.620 that organizations have made, like the Metal Lake Tribal Council into biomass energy, into
00:22:45.440 the forestry sector, into flare gas projects.
00:22:48.300 And what they do is they take those dividends from the investments they make and they bring
00:22:51.660 them back to their nine First Nations and they invest in schools and housing and recreation
00:22:57.360 and education and you name it.
00:22:59.760 And so, you know, the frustrating part of all this is that we talk about this being a very
00:23:05.420 important relationship and I should be careful.
00:23:07.240 The government talks about this being a very important relationship to them, but we're the
00:23:10.920 ones on the ground talking to these people and we're the ones hearing the story and they're
00:23:15.040 up trumpeting whatever they're trumpeting.
00:23:16.840 And I just don't believe they actually represent the Indigenous groups like they purport to.
00:23:24.440 I just don't think they do that job very well.
00:23:26.220 And, you know, my job is to hold them to account on that and I'll continue to do that.
00:23:29.860 Excellent.
00:23:30.040 You're doing a great job, Gary.
00:23:31.220 And no pressure, Greg.
00:23:33.360 No worries at all.
00:23:33.980 My word is yours.
00:23:35.020 Let me summarize the debate last night and in a short sentence here.
00:23:39.940 You've got the NDP who clearly want everybody moved out of their production jobs and moved
00:23:45.460 into government jobs.
00:23:46.320 They made that very clear in the debate last night.
00:23:48.080 You've got the bloc who doesn't care about the resource industry in Canada, outside of Quebec,
00:23:51.960 and as far as they're concerned, it can fail and nobody would suffer a bit when they're
00:23:57.320 wrong.
00:23:58.340 And then you've got, of course, the Green Party who's shouting, Yahoo, a thousand energy
00:24:02.420 workers lost their jobs.
00:24:04.120 Should be more.
00:24:05.760 So it's disgraceful, quite frankly.
00:24:07.600 And then you've got the Liberals who are saying to us, who are trying to support all these
00:24:11.580 jobs and support this economy.
00:24:13.180 The Liberals are going, yes, it's very important.
00:24:15.640 And frankly, we're failing at it miserably.
00:24:17.720 And that's the message that came across clearly in the House of Commons last night.
00:24:21.500 If this is important to you, government, start doing better.
00:24:26.080 Start doing better for the environment.
00:24:27.680 Start doing better for the economy.
00:24:29.140 And start doing better for what is, as Gary said, our most important file, which is the
00:24:35.020 advancement of Aboriginal people in this country.
00:24:37.740 Start getting this better, showing some results, and they're not.
00:24:41.360 Thank you.
00:24:41.720 I would agree with you 100%.
00:24:43.260 Gentlemen, it was a great conversation.
00:24:44.940 I understand some of you have questions and question period in about 20 minutes or so
00:24:49.620 time.
00:24:50.260 We look forward to hearing from you on this topic and many others.
00:24:54.380 We do appreciate the contribution today because it was something different, a bit of a round
00:24:59.200 table.
00:24:59.580 I think it went well.
00:25:00.760 And for those watching and listening at home, you heard and saw the passion in the voices
00:25:05.140 of these members of Parliament and the conviction they have for their constituents and the groups
00:25:09.840 they represent in their shadow ministry role.
00:25:12.440 So thank you, gentlemen, for joining us.
00:25:13.780 We do appreciate that.
00:25:15.860 Thank you, Jamie.
00:25:16.820 Thank you, Jamie.
00:25:17.660 So again, we had Damien Keurig, the Member of Parliament for Battle River Crowfoot.
00:25:21.520 We had Gary Vidal, the Member of Parliament for Disnethe, Mrs. Nippy, Churchill River, 0.96
00:25:26.120 and he's also the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Services.
00:25:28.900 And Greg McLean, the Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, also the Member of Parliament for Calgary
00:25:33.840 Centre.
00:25:34.320 And as always, great content today.
00:25:35.980 So we need you to please like, comment, subscribe, share this program, help us push back against
00:25:41.660 the ever-moving Liberal agenda.
00:25:43.240 Of course, if you can't watch it all today on Facebook, you can download it on platforms
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00:25:50.140 It's out there.
00:25:50.740 Together, we can do this and ensure that Erin O'Toole is the next Prime Minister of this
00:25:55.080 great country of Canada.
00:25:56.540 New content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time.
00:26:00.040 We appreciate your time here today.
00:26:02.200 Make sure you join us again next week.
00:26:03.620 Thank you once again.
00:26:04.900 And remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.
00:26:08.180 That's the Blueprints.
00:26:09.000 Thanks for joining us.