Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says she hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “listens to the Chinese” when it comes to getting pipelines and natural gas infrastructure built.
Ambrose told CTV’s Question Period that if Trudeau is “not going to listen to British Columbians about LNG (liquefied natural gas) and the rest of Canada about how important our resource sector is, I hope he listens to the Chinese because they want those commodities and they want to see that energy infrastructure built.”
Ambrose pointed out that while the prime minister was in China earlier this week, there was a protest at the National Energy Board hearings into Energy East in Montreal that shut down the hearings.
“The message to the world is Canada can’t even have a conversation about pipelines,” she said.
Ambrose added that China -- through its state-owned enterprises like CNOOC Ltd. -- “has made billions of dollars in investments in the oil and gas sector and want nothing more to get those commodities to tide water.”
Asked whether she believes China should be dictating Canada’s pipeline policy, the top Tory said that wasn’t what she meant, but added she “doesn’t see (the prime minister) championing these projects” or that he is “committed to the process, so I hope he’s hearing from other countries, not just China…”
The interim leader’s words seems to clash with a long-standing criticism from the Conservatives -- including Ambrose earlier this year -- about a comment Trudeau made at a 2013 fundraiser when he was asked which nation’s administration he admired.
Trudeau had said: “There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime.
“But if I were to reach out and say which…kind of administration I most admire, I think there’s something to be said right here in Canada for the way our territories are run,” he went on.
After that comment, Conservatives went on to suggest Trudeau was in favour of having senior leaders overrule democratic institutions.
Trudeau, meanwhile, has accused the Conservatives of trying to overrule democratic institutions by acting as "cheerleaders" for pipelines under review by the National Energy Board.
Ambrose told Question Period Trudeau should immediately approve a Kinder Morgan pipeline project known as Trans Mountain, which was conditionally approved by the NEB in May despite loud opposition from environmentalists including Vancouver’s mayor.
She also said the prime minister should greenlight the $36-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project, which is led by Malaysian state-owned firm Petronas, but also gas investments from Japan, China, India and Brunei.
Ambrose was asked whether she would consider lowering the foreign investment threshold imposed by the Conservative government in Dec. 2012, following the $15-billion takeover of Calgary-based Nexen by Chinese state-owned CNOOC.
“I don’t think you have to do that to kick-start investment in the oilsands,” she said. “The Chinese have shown that even with that threshold they’re willing to invest in the oilsands .. what they want is pipelines built.”
David Lametti, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Trade, told Question Period that the Liberals would consider lowering thresholds on foreign investment -- which the Harper Conservatives set up in 2014.
"It’s something we would consider amongst a number of different things," he said.
A recent poll from the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada found 56 per cent support for selling Canada’s natural gas to Asia, while 28 per cent were opposed and 15 per cent were unsure.
However, the online poll of more than 3,500 Canadians also registered strong opposition to investment from state-owned enterprises, particularly in China (80 per cent opposed) and from Malaysia (74 per cent opposed).
