On the recordDecember 7, 2011
I thank Senator Hoeven for the recognition, and I thank the leader for his remarks. I just want to confirm what the leader just said by quoting from two recent articles. The first is from an article about Minister Oliver, who is Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, on his trip to Shanghai. Here is his quote: My mission to China is clear. I have come to raise awareness of the strength of Canada's natural resource sectors--as both an outstanding source of quality products and an attractive destination for investment. Let me read one other quote that occurred shortly after that speech was made by the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources: A unit of China Petrochemical Corp., [known as] Sinopec, agreed to buy Daylight Energy Ltd., a Canadian oil and natural-gas producer, for 2.2 billion Canadian dollars . . .--China's second [purchase and second] foray into Canada's oil patch in [the last year]. So to confirm what the leader has said, and to confirm what Senator Hoeven has acknowledged, this is not something we might fear happening later on. This is something happening now. If we default on the Keystone XL Pipeline now, we are giving a wide open year for the Chinese to come back to Canada, make those investments, tie down that oil, and encourage that pipeline to go--not to Houston, TX--but to Vancouver, Canada, and then on ships to China. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of both of these articles be printed in the Record.…
