Under the influence of radical environmental activists and American left-wing foundations, the Trudeau government has done everything it can to stifle the growth of Canada’s oil industry by preventing it from transporting and selling its products.

With Bill C-48, the Liberals imposed a ban on oil tanker traffic on the north coast of British Columbia, which brought the cancellation of the Northern Gateway and Eagle Spirit pipeline projects. After years of legal uncertainty, investors pulled out of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project and sold it to the federal government for $4.5 billion. It is still uncertain when it will be completed.

Unrealistic environmental requirements from the National Energy Board also killed the Energy East pipeline. Finally, Bill C-69 makes the process of building pipelines and other major energy projects so complex and difficult that it could prevent any new investment. Among other things, that bill requires projects to be analyzed based on “the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors.”

Because of these constraints, capital investments in the oil and gas industry have collapsed, from $81 billion in 2014 to $37 billion in 2019. Our overdependence on the American market for exports also costs the Canadians economy billions of dollars in foregone revenues every year. Alberta’s economy has suffered a major setback, with tens of thousands of jobs disappearing in the oil patch and many more in local communities that depend on this industry.

Facts

Researcher Vivian Krause has spent years documenting a well-organized campaign to landlock Canada’s oil, funded by American foundations such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Tides Foundation. Almost all the groups involved in various types of campaigns and court cases against pipeline construction received money from them.

Despite the emergence of alternative sources of energy, global demand for oil is expected to keep rising for several decades. Canada has the third-largest oil reserves in the world and is well placed to answer this demand.

If this oil doesn’t come from Alberta and Saskatchewan, it will come from elsewhere, mostly countries with poor environmental or human rights standards such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. And if it is not transported by pipelines, it will be transported by rail, a much more dangerous method for both the environment and humans, as we saw with the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.

Our Plan

The oil and gas industry has been for decades a major source of employment, government revenues, and economic well-being for all of Canada. It should be allowed to grow, export its products, and bring prosperity to our country.

A People’s Party Government will:

Counter anti-oil and anti-pipeline propaganda from radical environmentalists and foreign foundations.

Repeal Bill C-48.

Repeal Bill C-69.

Approve pipelines projects using a streamlined process.

Find a private buyer for Trans Mountain.

Reassert federal jurisdiction over pipelines construction by invoking section 92(10) of our Constitution, whereby Parliament can declare any project to be for the general advantage of Canada.

The Liberal government is spending billions of dollars at home and abroad to fight global warming—or “climate change” as it is now called to account for every natural weather event and its opposite.

In order to lower greenhouse gas emissions, it has imposed taxes and countless regulations, it subsidizes inefficient and costly “green technology,” and it is blocking the development of oil resources crucial to our prosperity.

It is an undisputed fact that the world’s climate has always changed and will continue to change. Until twelve thousand years ago, much of Canada was under ice, and it is thanks to natural climate change that we can live here today.

There is however no scientific consensus on the theory that CO2 produced by human activity is causing dangerous global warming today or will in the future, and that the world is facing environmental catastrophes unless these emissions are drastically reduced. Many renowned scientists continue to challenge this theory.

The policy debate about global warming is not grounded on science anymore. It has been hijacked by proponents of big government who are using crude propaganda techniques to impose their views. They publicly ridicule and harass anyone who expresses doubt. They make exaggerated claims to scare people. They even manipulate school children, getting them to pressure their parents and to demonstrate in the streets.

Facts

Climate change alarmism is based on flawed models that have consistently failed at correctly predicting the future. None of the cataclysmic predictions that have been made about the climate since the 1970s have come true. No new ice age. No steady warming in direct relation with increases in CO2 levels. No disappearance of polar ice caps. No exceptional rise in ocean levels. No abnormal increase in catastrophic weather events. No widespread crop failure and famine.

In fact, CO2 is beneficial for agriculture and there has recently been a measurable “greening” of the world in part thanks to higher levels. Despite what global warming propaganda claims, CO2 is not a pollutant. It is an essential ingredient for life on Earth and needed for plant growth.

Our Plan

Given the uncertainties over the scientific basis of global warming, and the certainties about the huge costs of measures designed to fight it, there is no compelling reason to jeopardize our prosperity with more government interventions.

A People’s Party government will:

Withdraw from the Paris Accord and abandon unrealistic greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Stop sending billions of dollars to developing countries to help them reduce their emissions.

Abolish the Liberal government’s carbon tax and leave it to provincial governments to adopt programs to reduce emissions if they want to.

Abolish subsidies for green technology and let private players develop profitable and efficient alternatives.

Invest in adaptation strategies if problems arise as a result of any natural climate change.

Prioritize implementing practical solutions to make Canada’s air, water and soil cleaner, including bringing clean drinking water to remote First Nations communities.

The Liberal government is deliberately attempting to erase our borders. Over the past three years, it has done nothing to stop the flow of tens of thousands of asylum seekers illegally crossing our borders. Accepting all these refugees will cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars.

Moreover, in 2018, Canada welcomed more resettled refugees than any other Western country; more than the United States, a country with ten times our population, and as many as all of the European Union.

The UN’s Global Compact for Migration, which the Liberal government signed last year, aims to normalize this kind of situation, and to make it easier for millions of people to move to Canada and other Western democracies at will.

Facts

Since early 2017, more than 45,000 migrants have illegally entered Canada, mainly at Roxham Road in Quebec, avoiding official border checkpoints where they would be turned away and told to file refugee claims in the United States. About 40% of the refugee claims that have been processed have been rejected. These false refugees will eventually have to be deported, after costing governments tens of thousands of dollars each.

A report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that the federal government spends on average about $14,000 for each asylum seeker crossing into Canada outside of official border points. The total annual cost for federal agencies to process these claims is expected to reach $396 million in 2019-2020. It does not include expenses incurred by the provinces, territories or municipalities, which pick up costs related to social services.

Our Plan

Our current refugee policy is unsustainable, costly, and it is being abused by false refugees at our borders. This must end. The moral obligation of Canada’s government is to first help those in need among our own population, and then to give priority to real refugees.

A People’s Party Government Will:

Accept fewer resettled refugees (see also Immigration policy).

Take every measure necessary, in partnership with our American neighbours, to stop the flow of illegal migrants at the US-Canadian border.

Declare the whole border an official port of entry for the purposes of refugee claims to send back to the US anyone trying to enter Canada illegally.

Fence off the areas where illegal border jumping is prevalent, such as Roxham Road in Quebec.

Rely on private sponsorships instead of having the government pay for all the costs of resettling refugees in Canada.

Stop our reliance on the United Nations for refugee selection.

Give priority to refugees belonging to persecuted groups who have nowhere to go in neighbouring countries. For example: Christians, Yazidis, and members of other minority religions in majority Muslim countries; members of the Ahmadi community, and other Muslims in these countries who are persecuted because they reject political Islam and adhere to Western values; and members of sexual minorities.

Take Canada out of the UN’s Global Compact for Migration.

The primary aim of Canada’s immigration policy should be to economically benefit Canadians and Canada as a whole. It should not be used to forcibly change the cultural character and social fabric of our country. And it should not put excessive financial burdens on the shoulders of Canadians in the pursuit of humanitarian goals.

Despite Canada already accepting more immigrants than almost any other country, both the Liberals and Conservatives support an unsustainable increase in the annual immigration intake, and are using mass immigration as a political tool to buy votes among immigrant communities.

Facts

Right now, only 26% of all the immigrants and refugees who come to Canada every year are directly chosen because they have the right qualifications and work experience to fulfill our economic needs. The rest are dependents (spouses and children), come through the family reunification program or as refugees, do not work, or do not have the skills that we need even if they find work.

Immigrants generally have lower wages than non-immigrants. They pay on average about half as much in income taxes as other Canadians but absorb nearly the same value of government services. A study puts the cost to taxpayers in 2014 at roughly $5,300 per immigrant living in Canada, for a total annual cost of somewhere between $27 billion and $35 billion.

Demographic studies have shown that newcomers are a bit younger on average than Canadians, but not enough to have a noticeable impact on the rate of aging. The Liberal government has made matters worse by increasing the number of parents and grand-parents accepted under the family reunification program.

Mass immigration also inflates housing prices. More than 41% of all immigrants to Canada settle in and around Toronto and Vancouver, which have some of the least affordable housing among big cities in the world.

Our Plan

Our immigration policy can benefit Canadians only if we welcome the right kind of immigrants. It should prioritize Canada’s economic interests and be calibrated in a way that does not jeopardize Canadian values and the maintenance of our national identity.

A People’s Party government will:

Substantially lower the total number of immigrants and refugees Canada accept every year, from 350,000 to between 100,000 and 150,000, depending on economic and other circumstances.

Reform the immigration point system and the related programs to accept a larger proportion of economic immigrants with the right skills.

Accept fewer resettled refugees (see Refugees policy) and limit the number of immigrants accepted under the family reunification program, including abolishing the program for parents and grand-parents.

Limit the number of temporary foreign workers and make sure that they fulfil temporary positions and do not compete unfairly with Canadian workers.

Change the law to make birth tourism illegal.

Ensure that every candidate for immigration undergoes a face-to-face interview and answers a series of specific questions to assess the extent to which they align with Canadian values and societal norms (see Canadian Identity policy).

Increase resources for CSIS, the RCMP and Canadian Immigration and Citizenship to do interviews and thorough background checks on all classes of immigrants.