Chris Warkentin, Member of Parliament for Grande Prairie – Mackenzie, joined Conservative colleagues in demanding the Federal Government take action to support workers in Canada’s energy sector.

“Workers in our energy sector have been disproportionately affected by global events and damaging government policy,” Warkentin said. “It’s time for the federal government to finally step up to the plate and deliver the support they promised for workers and businesses that rely on the natural resource sector.”

“Conservatives urge the government to finalize and release their action plan to help energy workers and the oil and gas sector. They should:

  • Deliver on their promise to provide financial tools to increase liquidity and to recapitalize small and medium oil and gas employers, including credit facilities such as loan guarantees and accounts receivable insurance.
  • Reduce costs by cancelling the carbon tax
  • Encourage investment in Canada by working with regulators to speed-up assessments for the twenty-billion dollars’ worth of oil and gas projects in the queue, including the Énergie Saguenay LNG plant in Quebec.
  • Provide regulatory certainty by committing to overhaul Bill C-69, and immediately adopt all the Senate amendments that were supported by the private sector and all provincial and territorial leaders. 
  • Expand access to export markets and get pipelines built by using every federal tool to expedite construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion; advance the Keystone XL and Line 3 replacement pipelines; repeal C-48, the oil shipping ban, and work with proponents to set the conditions for a dedicated export pipeline to the growing Asia Pacific markets, and for a west to east cross country pipeline to secure domestic supply and export to Europe."

“We believe that these actions will save jobs now and create long term prosperity for communities across Canada.” Warkentin continued, “We know that if we unleash the opportunities and the innovation in our energy sector Canada will be much better positioned to recover from this economic crisis.”