Justin Trudeau spars with Tories over economy and pipelines as Parliament re-opens

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparred with opposition Conservatives on Monday over who has done more damage to the Canadian energy industry as the House of Commons returned for its first sitting of 2016.

Criticized for "swanning around abroad" at last week's economic summit in Davos, while pipeline projects remain stalled, Trudeau fired back at the Tories for failing to make progress in supporting industry after a decade in power.

"Once again it is interesting that the members opposite are criticizing us for not getting done in 10 weeks what they were unable to do in 10 years," Trudeau told the House of Commons during the daily question period.

"We are working very hard right across the country with municipal leaders and with provincial leaders to ensure we are creating the social licence, the oversight, the environmental responsibility, and the partnership with communities to get our resources to market in a responsible way because that is what it takes in the 21st century."

Tory natural resources critic Candice Bergen questioned whether Trudeau was doing anything to help Alberta, where she said people are getting "desperate" after seeing 100,000 jobs lost.

"He was in Davos being star-struck by Hollywood actors," said Bergen.

Trudeau last week told reporters in Davos that he had warned actor Leonardo DiCaprio that "inflamed rhetoric" wouldn't necessarily help families looking for jobs or help Canada improve its record on climate change. Trudeau said DiCaprio responded by saying that he would be among the first to praise Canada if it took concrete action to reduce emissions.

Bergen launched her criticism soon after MPs began 2016's first question period with a minute of silence for the victims of last week's tragic shooting in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

She also demanded that Montreal's mayor, former Liberal MP Denis Coderre, "smarten up and speak for Canadian jobs." Coderre last week announced that he and more than 80 other mayors from the entire Montreal region were opposed to TransCanada Corp's proposed Energy East pipeline following public consultations that concluded the project had too many risks and not enough economic benefits.

Trudeau's Minister for Natural Resources Jim Carr countered by promising to "stand up for jobs in Alberta," a province that has been particularly hard-hit by the drop in oil prices and the resulting recession that has decimated Canada's oil patch.

Trudeau also took flak from his political left with NDP leader Thomas Mulcair criticizing the government for announcing plans to sign the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"This will kill scores of jobs in manufacturing," said Mulcair.

With files from Mike De Souza.