LAKELAND - Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs shares the “deep, deep concerns” of her constituents regarding the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Since taking office, Trump has imposed a yo-yo of trade restrictions and tariffs on Canada and Mexico, including a 10 per cent levy on oil from Alberta.
Alberta exports roughly four million barrels of crude oil per day to refineries in the United States. There are limited alternative markets available, which Stubbs says is a direct result of the decisions made by the federal government.
“There is no excuse and no reason for Canada to be as catastrophically vulnerable to the decisions of the President of the United States, or frankly any other country. There is no excuse and no reason for that, except for the domestic policy agenda that has been imposed in our country,” said Stubbs.
A federal emissions cap, carbon pricing, and regulatory changes since Trudeau’s election in 2015 resulted in the cancellation of the Northern Gateway (2016) and Energy East (2017) pipelines, as well as the Énergie Saguenay LNG export project (2022).
According to Stubbs, people elected to public office need to take responsibility and accountability of the things that can be controlled right now.
“The things we can control are having an investment and regulatory climate that respects and attracts the private sector,” said Stubbs. “We need to have a government that knows, without a shadow of doubt and is willing to say out loud the facts, which is that natural resources development underpin the entire Canadian economy.”
She said the Conservatives, if elected, intend to accelerate “both traditional oil and gas projects as well as new, innovative green projects.”
“But there is a whole set of policies and legislations and regulations that we’ll have to tackle immediately so that we can give all Canadians and private sector proponents confidence that they will have a government that will build a system that is certain, clear, reliable and consistent,” said Stubbs.
Recent polling from Nanos Research shows approximately 75 per cent of Canadians support a national energy corridor pipeline from Alberta to Eastern Canada.
