Former prime minister Brian Mulroney says that growing trade between Canada and China depends on Justin Trudeau approving the Energy East Pipeline.
Mulroney told Evan Solomon of CTV's Question Period that Trudeau 鈥渃ould have a nation building exercise that would then allow him to service the Chinese and others more beneficially for Canada," if Energy East and other pipelines are built.
鈥淭his is nation building: bringing western and eastern Canada closer together, and developing a vast natural resource in the interest of Canadians,鈥� says Mulroney.
Mulroney said Trudeau had to take a stronger leadership position on the issue. "Only the prime minister can provide the leadership to fix the problem with our pipelines."
He was also dismissive of protesters at this week鈥檚 National Energy Board hearings into the Energy East pipeline in Montreal, saying it was 鈥渟mall beer compared to the protests we encountered during the free trade agreement and with GST.鈥�
His view on Energy East was echoed by interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who said the success of Trudeau's trip to China depended on his pipeline policy. "If (Trudeau) isn鈥檛 going to listen to British Columbians about LNG and the rest of Canada about how important our energy sector is, I hope he listens to the Chinese because they want those commodities, and they want that energy infrastructure built," said Ambrose.
It was a striking comment coming from a Conservative leader, especially after her party had attacked Trudeau during the election for his flattering comments about the Chinese government. Ambrose said that the protests at the NEB hearings on the Energy East pipeline show the world that "Canada can鈥檛 even have a conversation about pipelines."
The NDP, however, believe there should be no connection between a trade deal in China and Canada's pipeline politics. "It almost seems like pipeline blackmail," said NDP MP Nathan Cullen on Question Period. 鈥淚f we want to have any trade with China, we might have to do something Canadian鈥檚 might not want.鈥�
Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Trade David Lametti said the Liberals are going slowly on the file. "Yes we need to get our resources to tide water, but we need to do it responsibly and we need to do it in a green fashion, and we need to do it in a consultative fashion.鈥�
Mulroney also weighed in on other issues. He said he does not support changing the electoral system from first-past-the-post. "The first-past-the-post system has served us extremely well. Look at the results. So I say, if it ain鈥檛 broken, why fix it?鈥�
Mulroney also said he does not support Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch鈥檚 position on vetting immigrants based on Canadian values.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been pro-immigrant, said Mulroney. 鈥淭he way a great country like Canada or the United States moves ahead is to profit from the dynamism, the expertise and the devotion and loyalty that immigrants bring to Canada, and anything that diminishes from that concept is unacceptable.鈥�
