Tories Storm Out Of Meeting On Sharing Energy With US

At that point, Tory MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Commons Standing Committee on International Trade which was holding the SPP hearings, ordered Laxer to halt his testimony, saying it was not relevant. Opposition MPs called for, and won, a vote to overrule Benoit's ruling. Benoit then threw down his pen, declaring, "This meeting is adjourned," and stormed out, followed by three of the panel's four Conservative members. The remaining members voted to finish the meeting, with the Liberal vice-chair presiding. Benoit's actions are virtually unprecedented, observers say; at press time, parliamentary procedure experts still hadn't figured out whether he had the right to adjourn the meeting unilaterally. Benoit did not respond to calls for comment. It's "reckless and irresponsible" of the government not to discuss protecting Canada's energy supply, says Laxer. Atlantic Canada and Quebec already have to import 90 per cent of their supply - 45 per cent of it from potentially unstable sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, Laxer said. Meanwhile, Canada is exporting 63 per cent of its oil and 56 per cent of its gas production, mostly to the U.S., he says. http://tinyurl.com/2byefh [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on May 16, 2007]

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