Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced recently that the government would be committing an undisclosed amount of money to subsidize Imperial Oil and its partners for costs associated with the Mackenzie Gas Project. Given that the environmental and national review process is not completed yet, this is a serious breach of the government’s responsibility to the people and an insult to many of those who participated in the review.

Rather unbelievably, our own Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment said that he was very pleased with the announcement. By backing the project financially, the federal government has not just gone against their word, they have severely undermined their ability to make fair and objective decisions about the MGP.

Despite the review process not being complete, the government has clearly made its decision. Minister Prentice speaks of the project as a done deal, ensuring that once the review process has been completed the project would proceed quickly.

We know something about conflict of interest, and in my mind the federal government’s decision is unequivocally a clear breach of ethics on conflict of interest. It’s bad enough that the feds are undermining the voice of our people by essentially bypassing the review process, but to have our Cabinet publicly support such a move is outrageous.

Esso is one of the richest companies on earth, regularly announcing unbelievable levels of profit while crying for subsidies. Whose side are we on, the people’s or the multi-national oil companies? It’s a question worth asking, Mr. Speaker, because as it stands, the pipeline is going to benefit the oil companies far more than it will benefit Northerners. At the very least, where is our use of this project to leverage devolution so we can actually ensure meaningful benefits? Where is this government’s demand that this gas be directed to replacing dirty fuel or the transparent process to ensure our public that this will occur? Where is the demand that this gas not be used to fuel an industry that is currently threatening our water quality for the length of the Mackenzie River?

At a time when our economy is in serious trouble, thousands of Canadians are losing jobs and our environment is threatened as never before. Our federal government is handing out money behind closed doors and ignoring due process. How about diversifying our economy and creating jobs in alternative energies and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our escalating vulnerability to climate change?

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted