Question Period Note: Competitiveness in Natural Resources

• Given that the natural advantage Canada has: our energy, mineral, and forest abundance; our political stability and diversified and skilled workforce; our track record on innovation, the Indigenous partnerships and our record of balancing resource development with environmental protection, there are a lot of reasons to be confident in Canada’s resource sectors.
• Our government has confidence in Canada’s capacity to compete internationally as a valued, innovative place to do business in the clean growth century.
• We will work with our provincial and territorial counterparts to strengthen the competitiveness of our natural resource sectors.
Supplementary messages:
• Our government is taking action with our provincial and territorial counterparts to strengthen the competitiveness of our natural resource sectors including:
o Diversifying our export markets with critical infrastructure – including Keystone XL pipeline, Line 3, LNG Canada and facilitating transport through Bill C-49.
o Supporting innovation in our oil and gas sector, such as new extraction methods and better emissions monitoring systems.
o Investing massively to strengthen the safety and security of Canada’s oil and gas system through the $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan;
o Making generational investments in clean technology ($2.3 billion) and green infrastructure investments ($180 billion) and innovation to support their sustained success. For the forest sector, this includes the Softwood Lumber Action Plan, which provided $867 million in investments for industry innovation and market development;
o Building national engagement for a globally competitive Canadian forest sector with the Forest Bioeconomy Framework for Canada, which was endorsed last year;
o Building a national vision for a globally competitive Canadian mining sector under the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan.
• The government has enormous confidence in Canada’s capacity to compete internationally – as a valued, innovative place to do business in the clean growth century.

Thanks to innovation, our natural resources sector will continue to be a driver of economic growth and job creation, despite volatility in commodity prices. Several ongoing competitiveness challenges remain.

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