Premier Jason Kenney has issued the following statement on recent developments in the Senate on Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act and Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney |
The Government of Alberta is deeply
disappointed that the Senate of Canada decided by a vote of 38-53 to reject the
report of the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications on Bill
C-48. After extensive consultation and study, the committee had decided to
delete the bill, in part because it constitutes an obvious discriminatory
attack on the Province of Alberta and our job-creating energy industry.
The committee members could find no
compelling rationale for this bill, given that it only targets one product,
Alberta bitumen, and does not restrict oil tanker shipments elsewhere on
Canada’s coastlines. I urge the Senate to reconsider the negative impact this
bill will have on national unity at debate on third reading.
Should Bill C-48 be passed into law, Alberta
will launch an immediate constitutional challenge.
At the same time, I would like to thank and
commend members of the Senate for having voted to accept the Standing Committee
on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources report on Bill C-69.
The initial version of the bill posed a
massive threat to the future of Canada’s
energy sector and would jeopardize
investor confidence in the Canadian economy more broadly. It would also further
undermine national unity by making it virtually impossible for another pipeline
project to be proposed in the future.
I commend the members of the Senate energy
committee for having listened to these concerns, and reflecting them by
adopting some 180 constructive amendments, including those proposed by the Government
of Alberta, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Canadian
Energy Pipelines Association.
While we believe the Senate’s revised version
of Bill C-69 is still problematic, we believe that it is a very significant
improvement, and therefore urge the Government of Canada to allow the bill to
proceed to royal assent as amended.
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