Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says she hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 鈥渓istens to the Chinese鈥� when it comes to getting pipelines and natural gas infrastructure built.
Ambrose told CTV鈥檚 Question Period that if Trudeau is 鈥渘ot 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.鈥�
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.
鈥淭he message to the world is Canada can鈥檛 even have a conversation about pipelines,鈥� she said.
Ambrose added that China -- through its state-owned enterprises like CNOOC Ltd. -- 鈥渉as made billions of dollars in investments in the oil and gas sector and want nothing more to get those commodities to tide water.鈥�
Asked whether she believes China should be dictating Canada鈥檚 pipeline policy, the top Tory said that wasn鈥檛 what she meant, but added she 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 see (the prime minister) championing these projects鈥� or that he is 鈥渃ommitted to the process, so I hope he鈥檚 hearing from other countries, not just China鈥︹��
The interim leader鈥檚 words seems to clash with a long-standing criticism from the Conservatives -- -- about a comment Trudeau made at a 2013 fundraiser when he was asked which nation鈥檚 administration he admired.
Trudeau had said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 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.
鈥淏ut if I were to reach out and say which鈥ind of administration I most admire, I think there鈥檚 something to be said right here in Canada for the way our territories are run,鈥� 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 despite loud opposition from environmentalists including Vancouver鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you have to do that to kick-start investment in the oilsands,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he Chinese have shown that even with that threshold they鈥檙e willing to invest in the oilsands .. what they want is pipelines built.鈥�
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鈥檚 something we would consider amongst a number of different things," he said.
A recent poll from the found 56 per cent support for selling Canada鈥檚 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).
