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House Hansard - 240

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 26, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 240 - Oct/26/23
Mr. Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, BQ)
  • Oct/26/23 12:56:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always odd to hear the Conservative Party express concern about people's cost of living and the federal government's failed infrastructure projects. However, there is one infrastructure project that the Conservative Party never talks about, even though it is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Canadian history. I am talking about the acquisition and expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. The government acquired it in 2017 for $4.5 billion. Initially, there was an expansion project estimated to cost $7.4 billion in public funds. The cost then jumped to $12.6 billion in 2020, later reaching $21.4 billion. Now it is at $30.9 billion. That is four times more expensive. Is my colleague prepared to say that an infrastructure project that costs four times as much should be scrapped and that we should sell off its assets and stop investing immediately?
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Context: House Hansard - 240 - Oct/26/23
Mr. Brad Vis
  • Oct/26/23 4:24:23 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-34 
Mr. Speaker, it was so important to reduce the threshold to zero to account for intangible assets, for small mines in the natural resource sector and for businesses that could fall below the threshold, but would ensure a strategic asset for a state-owned enterprise or a foreign government that does not necessarily have the best interests of Canada at heart. What we are doing with this amendment is following along the lines of our other like-minded nations to protect strategic assets in Canada or corporations.
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Context: House Hansard - 240 - Oct/26/23
Mr. Mark Gerretsen
  • Oct/26/23 5:08:17 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-34 
Mr. Speaker, the bill does address that. The bill specifically gives new powers to the minister to be able to react in a much quicker way, to be able to deal with circumstances like this, the Minister of Industry working in conjunction with the Minister of Public Safety. This bill, at least from my understanding and my reading of it, does exactly what the member is suggesting in terms of being able to be more nimble, quicker and able to react to things and issues as they arise, including the purchase of assets by state actors.
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Context: House Hansard - 240 - Oct/26/23
Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)
  • Oct/26/23 5:38:20 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-34 
Madam Speaker, I was delighted to hear the member of the Conservative Party speak about the risks that are present to our economy here in Canada should we entertain the asset purchase of Canadian goods and the production of those goods by bad-faith foreign actors. However, I want to remind the member that, in 2012, the Conservative government of the day sold one of Alberta's greatest assets, which was our oil company. At that time, the Harper government gave the green light for a $15.1-billion takeover from an Alberta-based company stationed in Calgary, which provided many good jobs for our economy and many well-paying jobs right across Canada. However, Harper sold it off to the Chinese national offshore oil company. How can the member explain what he is saying compared with the truth?
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