Opposition Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer visited the Global News Morning Calgary studio to talk pipelines — and to say things would be very different if his party were in power.
“First thing we need to do is restore investor confidence in Canada,” he told Global News’ Dallas Flexhaug. “That’s why Trans Mountain is it, … the only project in the works right now.”
This would include encouraging more pipeline construction, lifting the tanker ban and eliminating the carbon tax, he said.
Scheer echoed what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and some other politicians have been saying — that pipelines are in the national interest. However, Scheer added that if he was prime minister, it wouldn’t have got to this point.
Scheer said a Conservative government would encourage the oil and gas industry “to come back to the table” and would eliminate what he calls the “double standard on Canadian energy.”
He said Canadians would rather use oil products produced in their own country rather than use imported oil from the United States, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
He said the government possibly partnering financially with Kinder Morgan to get the pipeline built is not the best way to go about it.
“That is not the optimal solution,” he said. “Nobody believes that’s a good thing.”
He adds that the idea of using taxpayer’s money wouldn’t have been necessary if the government had gotten things right in the beginning.
“Kinder Morgan doesn’t want taxpayers’ money, they want to pay taxes,” he said. “They want to build the project with shareholders’ money, putting people back to work and getting Canadian energy to market.”
Scheer said that the fact the government is scrambling to put together an aid package is an indictment of the prime minister’s record on the issue.
When asked if Calgary should bid for the 2026 Olympics, Scheer said the city shouldn’t be forced to bid for the Olympics to get federal infrastructure dollars.
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