Conservative energy critic Shannon Stubbs took to social media on Thursday to blast the Liberal government’s plan to end subsidies for fossil fuel production as incoherent and a political ploy to target a non-existent problem.
According to Stubbs, the federal government has not shown a common definition for “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” which it targeted in an announcement earlier this month.
“The truth is the former Conservative government ended the vast majority of direct fossil fuel subsidies in Canada. What’s wild is that the government can’t even define ‘inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,’” Stubbs said in a LinkedIn post.
“The natural resources committee did a whole study on this subject, and neither government of Canada officials nor witnesses used a common definition. So, I guess the NDP-Liberals are about to make something up — and then get rid of it.”
According to Stubbs, currently Canada only has a benchmark corporate tax treatment for all businesses which oil and gas companies can claim.
“The NDP-Liberals can’t define inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, AND they can’t tell you where all the money for R&D and innovation, or for government programs and services, is going to come from instead,” wrote Stubbs.
“What’s clear is the Liberals remain hellbent on shutting down Canada’s oil and gas sector, even though it invests more private sector dollars in clean tech than all other sectors – COMBINED, and leads the way in developing alternative energies and the fuels of the future,” Stubbs cited the fact that the industry contributes $26 billion a year in taxes and royalties on average.
“The reality is their reckless anti-energy and anti-private sector policies will kill hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, well-paying jobs, risk billions of dollars in government revenue, and won’t actually do anything for the environment.”
True North reached out to Natural Resources Canada for comment and was told to tune into a technical briefing on Monday for additional details.
According to analysis by the Canadian Energy Centre, the oil and gas industry has also contributed to the wealth of provinces like British Columbia.
Oil and gas developments and related economic activity between Alberta and British Columbia contributed a net positive $9 billion to British Columbia’s GDP.
The business activity also created over 55,000 jobs for British Columbians.
