NDP passes motion calling on Big Oil and gas CEOs to Ottawa to answer to Canadians

OTTAWA – On Thursday, the NDP’s Environment and Climate Change critic, Laurel Collins, passed a motion calling on Canada’s biggest oil and gas CEOs to testify on how they’re impacting the climate crisis while raking in billions in profits—despite Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives trying to block it.

Collins’s motion calls the CEOs of Suncor, Imperial Oil, Cenovus Energy, Shell and Enbridge to appear before the parliamentary committee on the environment to explain to Canadians the impacts of their operations on the climate crisis while making record profits.

“Canadians are paying the cost of the climate crisis—and people can’t afford to keep doing that,” said Collins. “Whether its damage done to your home from flooding, losing crops to droughts, or having to be ready to flee your home at a moment’s notice because of emergency wildfire evacuations, while Canadians see these extra costs adding up, the CEOs fuelling the climate crisis are making more money than ever. It doesn’t make sense.”

For years, the Liberals have left Canada’s oil and gas sector go unchecked while giving them huge breaks and handouts. Even though Canada’s biggest oil and gas companies made a combined $70 billion in 2022 alone, the Liberals continued to give them $18.6 billion in fossil fuel subsidies last year alone. And the Conservatives—when they were in government—gave out almost $60 billion in corporate handouts.

“Steven Guilbeault and Justin Trudeau don’t want to talk about the harm these companies are doing to our planet and people’s lives because they’d have to explain why they keep giving billions out to the people fuelling the crisis,” Collins added. “On the other hand, the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre won’t even touch this topic because they don’t believe climate change is real and won’t stand in the way of their rich friends making billions off working people. They even tried to block bringing the CEOs to committee to be held accountable.

“Oil and gas CEOs should be doing their fair share; it shouldn’t be up to Canadians alone. That’s why the NDP is calling for Canada’s biggest oil and gas CEOs to answer to Canadians.”