The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - The world needs more Canadian energy.

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm

00:00:14.260 your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Cowortha Lakes, with new content

00:00:18.440 for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe

00:00:23.100 and share this program. Tell your friends too to download it on platforms like CastBox,

00:00:27.400 iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. Happy 2026. On today's show, we are talking about Canada's 0.84

00:00:34.000 goal of energy independence and supplying the world with that great energy we have so abundantly.

00:00:41.040 To talk about this and so much more, we bring on the youngest Member of Parliament in the Atlantic

00:00:46.460 Caucus. Hello to Jonathan Rowe, the Member of Parliament for Terranova, the Peninsula. Thanks

00:00:51.520 for coming on the show. Hello, thanks for having me. Congratulations on your big election win. This

00:00:56.000 is the first time you've been on the show since that time and a whole 12 votes. Yeah, it was a small

00:01:02.300 win but a big victory. So originally I lost by 12, did a recount and we won by 12. So it was a small

00:01:09.040 margin win, very efficient, but what's even the big part of that win was my district's been Liberal

00:01:14.420 since 1988. So for the first time in almost 40 years. Wow. It's we're getting that flip. So it was

00:01:20.720 it was a big win and a big flip. Nicely done. Well congratulations for that. I'm sure that was a

00:01:25.060 hard work effort on your behalf and the behalf of your team as well. Absolutely. We had countless

00:01:30.340 volunteers just pounding the pavement, knocking doors, making phone calls and wouldn't be here

00:01:33.940 without them. So one of the big things that's happening all across the country, but I'm sure on the rock,

00:01:39.300 especially cost of living. Cost of living and the fact that this country could be more productive

00:01:46.020 than it is. Many stats show that in terms of our GDP, we're one of the dead last in terms of growth,

00:01:53.460 actually making stuff in this country. There's a graphic here showing that our affordability crisis

00:01:59.780 is linked to a lack of productivity. I'm sure you heard that at the doors in your area. Oh yeah,

00:02:05.540 we in Newfoundland and Labrador is our productivity would even be down as a collective. 25% of our

00:02:11.940 population is seniors over 65. First in Canada, first province of Canada even hit that. So our young

00:02:17.540 people are, you know, going to high school, a big chunk of that class is going straight to, you know,

00:02:22.820 Alberta or other places for work. And then we're going to university. And after we graduate university

00:02:26.900 in Newfoundland, we're also then going to work and very little of us actually stay behind and work

00:02:31.140 because there's just no opportunities and no jobs. And then that ends up the productivity of our

00:02:37.060 province is just flatlining. And which is strange because I think a lot of people haven't realized,

00:02:44.020 or maybe they do, and it's just not commonly known, is that Newfoundland and Labrador has a pretty

00:02:50.500 robust oil and gas industry. Very robust. So we're the third biggest producer of oil and gas in Canada.

00:02:56.100 Canada. But what's even more interesting is where our economy is more dependent on oil and gas than

00:03:01.380 anywhere else in Canada. So you think of, you know, Alberta. You know, when we think of oil and gas,

00:03:05.380 we think Alberta. They only rely on oil and gas for 21% of their GDP. Newfoundland and Labrador relies

00:03:11.300 on 25% of our GDP. So when Pierre Polyev came to Newfoundland and made an announcement that we wanted to

00:03:16.740 double oil and gas in our province, most even Newfoundlanders said, well, that's not that big of a deal. But

00:03:21.940 adding 25% to your whole economy, GDP is a huge deal. It makes such a big difference. Everything,

00:03:29.140 health care, roads, education, I mean, automatically 25% increase in GDP is just so significant. And

00:03:36.020 we've got a lot of potential there as well. We've got more oil and gas on Discovered than we have

00:03:40.580 discovered in our offshore industry. That bodes well for the future, especially if we can figure out a

00:03:45.220 way to get our product to additional markets, not just the United States. And that helps with the

00:03:50.740 affordability. As you pointed out, paychecks get bigger. We all know what happened in Alberta when

00:03:54.580 that big boom happened. Paychecks went through the roof. Wages rose at a rate that was faster than

00:04:01.220 most people can even comprehend nowadays when wages seem to be stagnant or falling. Let's queue up cut

00:04:08.020 one where a piece of legislation that we keep hounding is still in place, C-69, it's called the No More

00:04:15.220 Pipelines Bill. That unless there is a way to repeal this or the government uses its special superpowers

00:04:22.500 it asked for and parliament gave them to override it, it's going to be very difficult to get anything

00:04:27.300 built. So let's play cut one. How do you reconcile keeping Bill C-69 with your plans to build

00:04:33.540 infrastructure in Canada? Do you plan to repeal Bill C-69? We do not plan to repeal Bill C-69,

00:04:41.620 to answer your question directly. What we have said and made very clear 10 days ago, formally,

00:04:49.140 with the first minister's meeting, is that we will move for projects of national interest to remove

00:04:55.540 duplication in terms of environmental assessments and other approvals. And we will follow, as the federal

00:05:01.860 government, the principle of one project, one approval. That sounds good, but what the government

00:05:09.380 has created, and you know this as well, it has all these pieces of legislation that stunt or hinder

00:05:15.940 any growth and investment in the energy sector, but at the same time gave itself, as parliament,

00:05:21.140 and like I said before, parliament approved these special powers that allowed the government to go

00:05:26.180 around these pieces of legislation. Wouldn't it be here just to get rid of those pieces of legislation

00:05:30.500 that allows the private sector to do what it does best and compete for those investments and those

00:05:37.140 projects? I think you're hitting the nail right in the head. You know, C-69 wrapped up industry,

00:05:43.700 almost every industry in Canada, with red tape. It just wrapped it up. And we call it the no pipeline

00:05:48.500 bill because that's the one it affected the most. Yeah. We, as conservatives, were saying over and over,

00:05:53.780 this is a problem, this is a problem. No, no, no, it's not a problem, it's not a problem. The liberals

00:05:56.980 were saying, all of a sudden we've got a change and they're finally admitting that we're right,

00:05:59.940 it's a problem. So they created so much red tape, instead of cutting the red tape like conservatives

00:06:04.500 want to do, they said, no, no, so much red tape, we actually need to bring in C-5 to put a red carpet

00:06:09.620 over the red tape. So you had all this red tape and then they had to do a red carpet. And that was one

00:06:12.820 of the first things I voted on, was actually to give the current government power to actually go over

00:06:19.380 the red tape, step over it, and get things done. And the thing is, things still aren't really getting done.

00:06:25.540 Things are saying it's getting done, but it's not. And if it's not one thing on one side of the country,

00:06:29.780 it's another thing in another. So, you know, no doubt the big talk is pipelines, pipelines, pipelines.

00:06:34.420 Oh, will we do a pipeline or will we not? Well, it's foolishness because Newfoundland, 0.77

00:06:38.260 Labrador oil and gas industry doesn't even need pipelines. So pipelines are important,

00:06:43.140 but what's foolish is the talk about, oh, we can't get our oil to market because, you know,

00:06:48.100 there's a province in the way, or there's someone else in the way, or there's issues in the way.

00:06:51.860 We don't have those issues in Newfoundland. So what did they do? They came in and created

00:06:55.700 more issues. They brought in C-49 and said, okay, if you can invest billions of dollars 0.84

00:07:03.300 into offshore Newfoundland and we decide this is a marine protected area at any given point,

00:07:07.940 we can stroke our magic pen and you got to float away. Just like that. So not only does that just

00:07:14.180 open up the window for corruption. I mean, if I don't scratch your back every day, you can strike that pen

00:07:19.780 and get me. So not only is the temptation for corruption is just, it just grew exponentially.

00:07:26.260 Then you've got a situation where now investors are saying, I don't want to invest here because

00:07:30.100 it's too risky, right? We're not even getting any bids in offshore research in the past few years

00:07:36.420 because companies are saying, we're not touching that. We would rather go down south where the

00:07:41.140 government is saying, drill, baby, drill, then come in Canada and work with a government,

00:07:45.140 try to work with a government that doesn't want to work with us. So I always say,

00:07:49.060 if it's not one thing on one side of the country, they just make up something else for the other

00:07:52.260 side. And the mindset is still keeping the ground. We've seen that in his book. We've seen that

00:07:57.700 over and over all Mark Carney's life, even saying, keeping the ground, this globalist environment

00:08:02.500 agenda. And then they need to win an election. So they do a Hail Mary, change up their song.

00:08:08.420 Maybe, maybe they had the same tune and change some words, but it's the same tune, same song.

00:08:13.540 And until I see something, I'm just going to believe their past, because the best way to know

00:08:18.580 the trajectory of something is to see where it's been. That's a good point. And we still

00:08:22.340 import tankers on your side of the planet into Canada. Well, actually, this is something I

00:08:27.940 don't understand why there's a tanker ban on the west coast, not the east coast.

00:08:32.340 We bring Saudi oil in on your neck of the woods. Imagine if we said, imagine how much of this country

00:08:37.140 would go cold if we said that we're going to have a tanker ban on the east coast. And that's why they didn't do it.

00:08:42.020 Right. But they did it on the west coast because there's an export harbor. Yeah.

00:08:44.740 But the east coast is an import harbor. And when you actually look at it through that lens, 0.75

00:08:49.860 it's just mind boggling. Well, you said something a few seconds ago,

00:08:54.980 use marine protected areas. And you know what? It sounds great, right? Like most pieces of legislation,

00:08:59.540 how government works, puts a fancy title on it. So chances are it's hard for an opposition party to

00:09:05.380 vote against it, unless you really dive into it. But it sounds good, but it's not really all about

00:09:10.420 protecting aquatic life at all, that legislation. No. I mean, what are we protecting it from?

00:09:16.820 We can't go out and dump things in our ocean. All of our oceans, all of our land in Canada is

00:09:21.380 protected. There's all these protection policies in place. It's simply a mechanism used to control

00:09:27.620 industry to say, well, we can kick you out, whether it's a gold mine, whether it's forestry,

00:09:32.500 whatever it is, we want to just let you know that we can kick you out of this country and shut down 0.68

00:09:37.300 your industry at any given moment. So you better keep scratching our backs. And it is opening the 0.95

00:09:42.900 door for massive corruption in Canada. Of course it is. All right. We have a few graphics here and

00:09:47.220 we've got another cut. This is Mark Carney again. Let's queue up cut two here. Pipelines are boring.

00:09:54.820 Play cut two. One of my questions was, is this pipeline going to come? So boring.

00:10:00.420 It's not actually for a big part of the country. It is. No, but it is. It is because it's, look,

00:10:05.700 there is this whole world. Okay. Hands up. Who's working on the pipeline in this room?

00:10:12.020 Okay. Isn't that a problem? No, no, no, no. Look at all the variety. Like, Nav, like, does your,

00:10:22.660 will have a much bigger impact on productivity in this country.

00:10:26.820 It's good. To your point, command and control of the economy. Yes. And you know, she asked,

00:10:32.740 isn't that a problem? I wonder how many people in that room were unemployed. Yeah. Well, judging

00:10:36.820 by that room and that crowd, they're probably all connected to government somehow. And that could

00:10:40.900 definitely, definitely be. I mean, maybe pipelines are boring. No, we dig a hole, put it in the ground.

00:10:46.660 We bury over it. You can farm on it. There's less risks of environmental spills and putting it on

00:10:51.540 trains. You know, maybe it is boring. We, it's very clean. It's very good for the environment. Maybe it is

00:10:56.100 boring, but I tell you what's exciting is the jobs that's in place, the money that we can be made.

00:11:00.980 They're getting, reaching our potential that we have below our feet. That's the exciting part.

00:11:05.300 The pipeline might be boring, but the economic excitement of that is what should keep Canadians 1.00

00:11:11.620 excited. I would think so. We've got a few graphics. Let's throw up the graphics. 0.99

00:11:16.020 What we talked about before, the major projects. Still, we've only seen a handful of projects,

00:11:22.500 you know, get approved, but most of them are, were already in progress already. Most already

00:11:28.100 had shovels in the ground. So it wasn't as if there were these projects that were announced.

00:11:32.740 It was like, wow, this is going to be great. Well, they were already approved, most of them.

00:11:37.540 So let's queue up cut three. We had the prime minister go to Alberta, sign a memorandum of

00:11:44.420 understanding with the Alberta premier about a potential pipeline out to the BC coast. BC premier

00:11:51.300 says, basically over my dead body. We'll see what negotiations happen. You know, this was a few

00:11:57.460 weeks ago, granted, and things change all the time. So hopefully for the sake of those workers

00:12:02.260 in those provinces, I hope this goes forward. Let's play cut three.

00:12:05.940 All right. Speaking of Canadian interests, this prime minister opposed the pipeline from Alberta

00:12:12.020 to the Pacific, just like his liberal predecessor blocked that same pipeline. On Thursday,

00:12:18.580 he'll make one of his grand announcements waving around a meaningless so-called memorandum of

00:12:24.020 understanding. If it's anything other than a public relations ploy, why won't he say on what date

00:12:31.700 will construction begin on a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific? Sometimes the question reveals

00:12:38.580 everything. The memorandum of understanding that we're negotiating with Alberta creates

00:12:45.780 necessary conditions, but not sufficient conditions because we believe in cooperative federalism.

00:12:52.020 We believe the government of British Columbia has to agree. So basically what you just talked about,

00:12:58.180 right? The sufficient conditions. It's the, we'll, we look like we're approving something,

00:13:03.540 we look like we're trying, but there's always that barrier. Same with the programs you talked

00:13:09.540 about on your side. This is on the west coast. So east-west, similar situations, similar barriers.

00:13:16.100 There's always that big if, right? We'll approve the pipeline, and the pipeline will go ahead

00:13:21.780 if BC approves. If, if, if. And what's interesting is how many times are we going to allow that

00:13:29.380 if to happen before we wake up and say, okay, it's not going to happen. And what's the point,

00:13:33.620 you know, for BC and for other provinces that are hindering getting our products to market,

00:13:39.060 what's the point? What's the point of us being, provinces are part of Canada if we're not going to

00:13:44.740 help each other, right? I use the expression when the west does better, the east does better. Newfoundland

00:13:49.540 and Labrador has been traveling back and forth through Alberta and other parts of Canada,

00:13:53.380 working for years. And when the west does better, we do better too. We're all in this together. But

00:13:58.420 if we're not going to support each other, what is the point, right? And we talk about, you know,

00:14:03.460 putting Canada first, but that's just working together and helping each other get done. And

00:14:07.780 you know, you guys have, have an issue of getting your oil to, Alberta has an issue of getting their

00:14:12.900 oil to markets. We have an issue of getting electricity to markets. It's, it's the same thing that's

00:14:17.700 happening on the west coast is also happening on the east coast. And it's so frustrating because of

00:14:22.820 all these ifs. And we're all always, always handcuffing ourselves to your point. Always.

00:14:30.900 I think people in your, your province, Newfoundland and Labrador, you know, you're realizing this,

00:14:36.180 we took what, three seats in the last election, hopefully more following in the, you know, subsequent

00:14:41.860 elections. But people are realizing that the best solution here is to get what we have, in your case,

00:14:49.300 oil and natural gas, energy, to the markets that want to pay for them. And, and that creates jobs,

00:14:55.620 opportunities, wealth. Everyone rises as a result. And, and you were talking about my industry. So,

00:15:03.380 in Newfoundland and Labrador, the thing hindering our oil and gas is also emissions cap. So, you,

00:15:08.500 you, there's no other room after the Beta Nord project, if it go, if it goes ahead. And if these

00:15:13.540 guys make it a project that they want to see go ahead, if Beta Nord goes ahead, no other projects

00:15:18.340 can come online until another project is finished because of the emissions caps. So, in the budget,

00:15:23.540 they announced, oh, the emissions caps won't be no more. And the Newfoundlanders got excited. Yay,

00:15:27.700 our oil and gas industry isn't capped anymore, which is right now. But in the fine print was this big,

00:15:32.660 fat, if we're going to take the emission caps off, if there's other procedures in place that make it

00:15:38.260 redundant. So, we'll take it off if we don't need it, because other things are in place. It's always

00:15:43.300 this big, fat if. And it's always a way for the government to say no. Well, you know, we tried,

00:15:49.220 but just this one thing couldn't get done. Using other people and other provinces as their scapegoat

00:15:55.780 to do their agenda. Yeah, exactly. And, and unfortunately, it doesn't really, as you said earlier,

00:16:01.940 bring Canada together because we have this potential and, and we can create that. You know,

00:16:08.180 we're, we're spending $78 billion over and above what we're already collecting tax revenue. There's

00:16:14.020 a way to, to generate some of this tax revenue, to put some of the money back into the government

00:16:18.980 conference. We're just not allowing ourselves to do it. Trillions of dollars of on-tap resources.

00:16:23.300 Yeah. Technologies now, AI technologies, that's just going to enable us to do so much more with such

00:16:29.940 less people. One of the biggest, you know, hindrances in our economy has always been 1.00

00:16:34.100 our small population, you know, 40 million people, a big, massive country. But, you know,

00:16:40.260 we've got gold mines opening up in, in Canada where they're autonomous, autonomous trucks. So,

00:16:45.460 we're able to do so much more with less people. We have the potential now to be one of the leading

00:16:50.820 countries in the, in the world and one of the best economies in the world. There's no reason why we

00:16:54.980 can't be, you know, such as Norway with trillions of dollars in reserves, not 1.3,

00:16:59.860 trillion dollars in debt. That's a very good point. Jonathan, we're pretty much out of time,

00:17:03.620 but as you know, the guests always get the last word. The floor is yours, close us out.

00:17:08.500 Well, I just want to, you know, thank you for having me. You know, we touched on Newfoundland

00:17:11.380 oil and gas, but Newfoundland's natural resources in general is, we're more reliant on natural

00:17:16.580 resources than anywhere else in the country. We've got, we've got oil and gas, we've got oil,

00:17:20.500 we've got natural gas, we've got mining, critical minerals, earth minerals, you know, your gold,

00:17:26.100 your, all your, all your metals. Then we've got massive hydroelectricity potential that we could

00:17:30.820 be exporting. All of that is just capped by federal regulations. It's so frustrating and we see it in

00:17:36.660 Newfoundland and we see it right across this country. Our problems in the East are very similar,

00:17:40.580 if not the same as the West. And I'm just hoping that we can make changes one day at a time.

00:17:45.460 And in those industries, those are good paying jobs, high earning pay jobs.

00:17:50.020 Oh yes, absolutely. The jobs we need in this country.

00:17:52.820 Yeah, absolutely. Jonathan, thank you so much for your time.

00:17:55.940 Thank you for yours. Jonathan Rowe, Member of Parliament for Terra Nova at the Peninsulas from

00:18:00.580 the beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Thanks very much for coming on the show.

00:18:04.260 Congratulations on your big win. I know you'll expand on that margin next time.

00:18:08.500 A dozen more will be all right.

00:18:09.620 All right. Deal. Give yourself a little cushion there.

00:18:12.900 Don't forget, we will have new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern time. Don't forget to like,

00:18:17.780 subscribe, comment and share. So until next week, remember, low taxes, less government,

00:18:22.660 more freedom. That's The Blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - December 03, 2025

The world needs more Canadian energy.

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