The Liberal Ban That Blocks Canadian Energy

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]is the fourth largest oil producer in the world and everyday Canadians produce over 5.3 million barrels of it. That's enough to fill just over 300 Olympic size swimming pools and most of it comes from my home province of Alberta. That oil powers modern life. It's necessary for countless products that billions of people use every single day like your cell phone, your sunglasses, the shoes or boots on your feet, the plastics and rubbers needed for cars including electric ones and also the medical equipment in our hospitals that patients and doctors and nurses need every single day. It's quite literally everywhere in your life. You need it and so do billions of people seeking a higher standard of living around the world.

[00:00:44]They deserve to thrive with affordable fuel and food, development and security, which is exactly why the world wants responsibly produced Canadian oil and gas. In fact, the International Energy Agency says global oil demand will continue to grow well into 2050. Now, any sensible person would look at this demand and think, how can Canada take advantage of this for the benefit of all Canadians? But the Liberals, they look at Canada's oil and gas potential and they seem to think to themselves, hmm, how can we make sure that it stays in the ground? Well, one of the major tools that the Liberals imposed to do exactly that is through Bill C-48, their oil tanker moratorium act often called the tanker ban, which by the way doesn't actually exclude all marine vessels from the Pacific coast or give the international voluntary exclusion zone already there any particular enforcement teeth, but it does deliberately and specifically ban the on and off loading of crude and persistent oil and only tankers of the capacity, the size and the weight, supertankers, that could then reach Asia economically, efficiently and directly through the safest, deepest port, and most direct route.

[00:02:01]I fought the Liberals' clear objective to stop the expansion of Canadian oil and gas production through this shipping ban when it was introduced. I challenged it with Conservative colleagues in Parliament, and our entire team opposed it repeatedly. I was so grateful to stand with Lax Kw'alaams Mayor John Helin outside of Parliament, who called for the Liberals to stop this shipping ban, to defend their indigenous rights and title, and ultimately to sue the federal government to assert their inherent rights to sustainable economic opportunities and decision-making authority for their nation. Mayor Helin recently passed away.

[00:02:41]So, I just want to say that I will always be inspired by his leadership, his foresight, his courage, and his humble, powerful presence.

[00:02:53]But, the Liberals, you know what? They ignored him, too. The most directly impacted northern BC First Nation by their shipping ban, Bill C-48, who the Liberals didn't consult, and who didn't want it. Again, with these empty Liberal illusions.

[00:03:12]I warned that the shipping ban threatens jobs and economic benefits in Alberta and BC, and that it would kill independent, dedicated, private sector Pacific pipeline proposals for export beyond US markets that would benefit all Canadians.

[00:03:28]The Liberals didn't listen then, or didn't care, and that's exactly what has happened.

[00:03:35]Their anti-energy ideology killed major infrastructure projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline, supported by 31 First Nations and Métis communities, that would have started in my riding in Burnaby, but the Prime Minister vetoed it without consulting any of those First Nations or the communities all along the routes that supported the pipeline. It would be fully operational now for years, and Canada would be so much more powerfully positioned with multiple customers for the country's most valuable export asset.

[00:04:09]And it killed the $16 billion First Nations led Eagle Spirit pipeline initiative backed by 35 First Nations groups that couldn't even get off the ground after the Liberals inflicted the shipping ban, which is of course specific to only that part of one coast in Canada, and not in any other coasts or more narrow and shallow waterways that are everywhere else across the country.

[00:04:33]Now, if you think that doesn't make a lot of sense, if you've been told the reason for the so-called tanker ban was to protect specific marine ecology, but the Liberals didn't impose it anywhere else. If you think that doesn't quite add up, you're right. But it makes perfect sense when you know that their intention, their objective, was to stop the construction of shipping infrastructure, to limit oil and gas production, and to leave it in the ground, just like both Prime Ministers Trudeau and Carney have advocated for decades and inflicted on Canada together.

[00:05:10]The shipping ban is devastating to local communities, businesses, and indigenous groups eager to share in the economic benefits that Canadian energy has to offer all of us.

[00:05:21]And the revenue for all three levels of government that's been missed out on that could have provided billions for programs, infrastructure, and services everywhere across Canada.

[00:05:33]The shipping ban is clearly one of the many anti-development Liberal policies that blocks a pipeline to the Pacific, blocks energy exports to Asia, and keeps Canada dependent on the United States.

[00:05:45]Because the truth is now that under those so-called elbows up liberals, Canada still sends 96% of our oil to the US at a discount. That cost Canada over $25 billion every year.

[00:06:00]Bill C-48 also breaks the liberals election promise to you to make Canada an energy superpower and to double non-US exports. Because if Canada can't ship energy to Asia and to other partners, how can it sell it? And why would producers produce it? That's why I'm so proud to second Bill C-264 from my conservative colleague MP David Mackenzie for Calgary Signal Hill that would repeal the liberals tanker ban Bill C-48, open Canada's west coast for safe energy exports, and allow Canadian oil to reach Canada's allies so they can reduce their reliance on dirty dictator oil from hostile regimes like Russia and Iran. Because while the liberals continue to talk and talk about a rupture and a crisis, conservatives believe in action. Because now, more than ever, and Canadians are saying this loud and clear, Canada should lead. And Ottawa, especially the Prime Minister, should get out of the way. So, tell your local liberal MP to support this common sense bill to repeal the anti-energy tanker ban so Canada can actually become an energy superpower because it is way past time for these liberals to walk that talk and prove it.