Madam Speaker, I rise today to have a chance to address, once again, the government's emissions cap, which is better known as its production cap, because we know that, by implementing the emissions cap, we are going to see a reduction of about a million barrels of oil in production in Canada by 2030. There have been various reports that have been done on this that show this is going to happen.

One of the strategic advantages that Canada has enjoyed for the last number of decades has been our reliable, affordable and efficient energy production. That has been done largely through the oil and gas sector that we have here in Canada. Let us also talk about some of the benefits that our communities receive from the oil and gas sector.

When we look at communities around southwest Saskatchewan, for example, the town of Shaunavon has the Crescent Point Wickenheiser Centre, which has a community skating rink, the curling rink, meeting rooms and event spaces. In Kindersley, Inter Pipeline just entered into a 10-year partnership to be the naming rights sponsor for the event centre arena, which supports the minor hockey program there, as well as the Kindersley Klippers in the SJHL.

Just last month, in my hometown of Swift Current, Whitecap Resources made a $100,000 commitment toward the Southwest Facility Foundation, which is going to be a new multi-purpose facility that we are looking to build in Swift Current. Beyond that, we can look at the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation with the various donors who are on the list and the various businesses that are donating to the success of health care all across southwest Saskatchewan. Particularly in Swift Current, we see people who are entrepreneurs in the oil and gas sector. We see the small businesses that are operating in the service industry. They are the ones who are donating to these causes.

When we look at our minor sports teams, when we look at the boards of people who have donated, who are either platinum, gold or silver sponsors of minor sports, whether it is hockey or baseball, again, it is energy companies that are the ones leading the charge on making donations to minor sports, to minor hockey.

For senior centres, schools and education, it is these companies that are the ones putting their dollars into these facilities and into the various courses and classes that are available. These are the companies that need to be supported, but these are the companies that the Liberal government is deliberately attacking and is trying to wipe out with its draconian policies, such as the emissions cap, which, as I said, is a production cap.

Let us look further at what is going to happen here. In these reports, which I referenced earlier, 150,000 jobs are expected to be lost because of the emissions cap. When we look at the average salary in the oil and gas sector, it is over $151,000, which is 2.4 times greater than the average salary across the Canadian economy.

In 2030, when this emissions cap is fully implemented, we are going to see a drop of $34.5 billion in economic potential in Canada. When we game that out, that averages out to a drop of $420 per month for the average family across the country in disposable income. That is going to be the result and the track record of the government.

I do not know why Liberals are so committed to trying to devastate the Canadian economy. They know that the natural resource sector, particularly the oil and gas sector, is the driver of the Canadian economy. It is what produces good jobs. It is the industry that is the single largest investor in renewable energy in this country. That is who they are directly assaulting.

Jeremy Patzer

$451,125.00