As the October federal election gets closer, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has put forward a bold plan to revamp the economy and give the Canadian energy sector a much-needed jolt.
In a speech on economic policy, Scheer promised to work towards a coast-to-coast “energy corridor” to allow for large scale transportation of Canadian oil and gas from Alberta to all parts of the country.
“With a single corridor, we could minimize environmental impacts, lower the costs of environmental assessments, increase certainty for investors, and, most importantly, get these critical projects done,” Scheer said.
Along with greatly helping the stagnating energy sector, an energy corridor would assist in meeting Scheer’s other big energy promise: energy independence for Canada by 2030.
Scheer says energy independence would end Canada’s dependence on “regimes that abuse human rights and take virtually no steps to protect the environment.”
This most notably includes Saudi Arabia, a murderous dictatorship Canada relies heavily on for oil and gas.
“An energy independent Canada would be a Canada firing on all cylinders — across all sectors and regions,” he said. “If the United States can do it, so can we.”
Canada is largely dependent on the United States to buy our oil, which they buy at a high discount.
An east-west corridor would both give more Canadians access to Canadian oil and open new markets abroad to export.
While Andrew Scheer’s plan would potentially help recover the $20 billion Canada lost in oil revenue, Finance Minister Bill Morneau slammed Scheer’s plan, stating that the Liberal government’s “approach to the economy is actually working”
Despite Morneau’s assertion, recent surveys reveal the opposite: that nearly half of Canadians are less than $200 away from insolvency and another 26% have no money left at the end of each month after paying their bills.
While the Liberals claim “sunny ways,” Scheer says ordinary Canadians are worried about their financial situation and that that is the only real assessment of this government’s handling of the economy.
