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Head to betway.ca and bet your way. Must be 19 plus Ontario only. If they're responsible, concerned about your gambling, visit connexontario.ca. Bronwyn Ayer is the Minister of Energy and Resources for the province of Saskatchewan, and the Minister joins us.
Minister, thank you for the time. Thank you so much. It's wonderful to be here. C69, is there anything in that bill that your government can support in keeping in mind that the Senate returned it to Parliament with close to 200 changes as for?
Well, the bill right now is just a patchwork mess. It will be unworkable. It was a terrible bill to begin with, and now there's a handful of token random amendments thrown into the toxic mix. There are still no regulations.
The major project list is still in just draft form. They really can do anything they want with this thing going forward. And, of course, there will be no deadlines on project approvals. The standing tests are abolished.
All that is still in there. So we're very, very worried about it, and Canadians should be, too, if they care about the energy sector. Is it a pipeline killer? Is it a Canadian economy killer?
Absolutely it is. And I guess the big question here, which is on everyone's mind after this pivotal week, is why is the federal government so intent on dealing such a death blow to Western Canada? And C-48, of course, as you know, is still to come. Wednesday was a very dark day for Canadian energy, Canadian economy, and Canadian jobs, which, as I said when I was standing with Minister Rickford and Minister Savage on Wednesday in Calgary, are no different than SNC-Lavalin jobs or GM jobs.
And we've just tried to champion those jobs all these months and to champion the energy and resource sector. And we don't feel that that is game-playing, as the Prime Minister said last week. I think that his comments really were a new low, this cheap labeling we keep hearing about conservative politicians, which you referenced going in, the pretense that somehow we were pushing Indigenous consultation to be optional, as if even without Bill C-69 under the current system, it's remotely optional. Well, that's just patently false, and he should retract his comments in the spirit of all that fake news he claims he's so intent on stopping.
The Prime Minister's contempt was jaw-dropping. It really was contempt for our efforts on this bill all these months, and for what has been one of the biggest lobbying efforts in Canadian political history, by us, by industry leaders, by municipalities that are impacted by the sector, and by workers. Workers who so desperately want to get out of the work. Minister, there's also the issue of investors in Canada, or former investors, who've written to the Prime Minister and urged him to resume his interest, to regain his interest, if he ever had any, in the energy sector in Western Canada, particularly the oil sands, so they can put money back, their international investment money back into this country.
And once money's gone, it's very difficult to get it to come back. Absolutely, and that's one of the most alarming things that one hears from the sector, that they go and try to raise equity in other markets in the U.S. and so on, and it's such a challenge now because there's really a profile about Canada that is negative and is perceived as negative, despite the fact that, of course, individual provinces don't want to be part of that picture. Well, let's talk about that.
Let's talk about that. The province of Quebec, which receives significant amounts of money, $13 billion in equalization payments, roughly. And the province of Quebec at the same time is saying, we don't want pipelines coming from the west of Canada. We don't want a pipeline that originates in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
We don't want that in this province. You're dealing with the federal government, now you're also dealing with the province of Quebec. With the provincial government, is there just, I mean, are we at a national unity impasse? Well, we are.
I mean, part of the reason that this talk of national unity, though, is so tricky for the Prime Minister is that, let's not forget that two-thirds of Quebecers want Western Canadian oil. That's right. And, you know, I heard Conservative MP, as you have, they'll tell from Quebec this week, speak to the 4,000 people who came out for the Canada Action Rally at the Global Petroleum Show, and he talked about these Quebecers who aren't against oil, as the rest of us, the silent majority. You know, a silent majority that I would say should no longer be silent.
Well, I guess that's what I'm getting at here. Is this election campaign, once the rate is dropped, is it going to be not only about energy? Will the energy issue of the economy and national unity all tie in together? Is that going to be a significant thrust of the debate heading toward October 21st?
I think it will be that the economy, the energy sector, the perceptions of the energy sector, and then the broader impact on the economy are bound to be. I think the old clichés, though, can't apply. And I think that's what... Well, I think the old clichés about this just being a Western issue.
I think those fault lines are showing and are being changed, that the whole image of this sector and the image of energy and Canadian energy and the perceptions of it, and by whom, because, as you referenced, there's a rising number now of provinces who have concerns about this bill, about foreign oil, about, you know, all the ripples of this and what it means for the economy. I mean, Premier LeBeau came out in favor, came out opposed to Bill C-69 this week when he stood with Jason Kenney on the jurisdictional overreach and the massive overreach by the federal government into provincial jurisdiction that this bill symbolizes Bill C-69. So, again, the old clichés about this being just a Western issue don't apply. No, I don't think...
You know, if I go by my listeners who communicate with me during the week, not only on the weekend, but during the week, by way of email, I mentioned this a couple of months ago, there is significant support. I mean, overwhelming support, really, if you're just looking at emails. It's not scientific. Just looking at emails, overwhelming support, but the position taken by Western Canada, the views of Western Canada, the concerns of Western Canada, very, very strong support.
And that poll you mentioned, 66% of Quebecers favoring Western oil. That, of course, was a laissez poll that was done for the Montreal Economic Institute. We spoke with a rep from the M&E, and he told us, look, there's the elites in Quebec, and then there's the people of Quebec. And the people of Quebec want Western oil, they want pipelines, the elites don't.
That's right, and I think that's significant. That is significant. And as you say, I mean, just to your original question about, you know, is this a pipeline killer, and what does this mean? This bill and the wider ramifications of it, I mean, again, there's a lot of talk by the federal government about how the system is broken and how, you know, somehow this bill will miraculously change pipeline approval.
But again, as I've said many times, I mean, the system isn't broken. It's all political. It's the federal government, of course, that killed Energy East and Northern Gateway, and so it has nothing to do with the system. And I'm sure the federal government will approve Trans Mountain, but they'll just then slow walk work to the election because they don't want any optics of green protesters chaining themselves to pipelines.
So they may say, well, Bill C-69 passed, Bill C-48 will probably pass, and then we're going to approve this as pipelines. But it's the optics of it that we have to all watch as Canadians. Melissa, thank you so much for the time. Good talking to you.
Very welcome. Thank you. Bye-bye. Ronald Ayer is the Minister of Energy and Resources for the province of Saskatchewan.
There is a genuine, and I've experienced lots of election campaigns. I've reported on a lot of election campaigns. I've anchored election broadcasts on many occasions. And there was also a bit of theater.
I don't sense the theater this time. This is serious business. And I genuinely oppose one another, genuinely. If you want to hear more, subscribe to The Roy Green Show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you find your favorites.
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