Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to announce that we are putting in place a program to help tens of thousands of Canadians get off home heating oil. The price of home heating oil is skyrocketing because of the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We will put a quarter of a billion dollars to help tens of thousands of Canadians go to clean, efficient, renewable energy in Canada to heat their homes and sav…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I would remind her that we have a plan providing for investments of $109 billion to combat climate change, which is three times more per capita than the United States is spending. In addition, we fought for the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court. We are implementing programs to help phase out oil-based heating, which is three times more …
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Mr. Speaker, I find it quite difficult to listen to the member opposite speak about this, as many of his members, including the leader of his party, have risen in the House to talk about the impacts of Fiona. We know that it is linked to climate change, and we know that we have to do more to fight climate change. We know that, because of climate change, there are more hurricanes on our east and we…
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Mr. Speaker, it takes some nerve for my colleague opposite to ask that question, when the leader of her own party approved the Anticosti drilling plan without any environmental assessment. I do not think my hon. colleague is in a position to lecture us. I remind the member that our climate action plan was still supported by my former colleagues at Greenpeace and Equiterre and by many organizations…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I would also like to add my voice to those of other members who are thinking of the people and families who lost loved ones in hurricane Fiona, one of the worst storms to ever hit eastern Canada. The barometric pressure was the lowest ever recorded on the east coast of the country. I would like to take a moment to commend the work of the Meteorol…
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Mr. Speaker, our plan is designed so that the majority of households in Canada receive more from the climate action incentive payments than they pay, at a time when Canadians need more money and we need to fight climate change. The Leader of the Opposition talked about a crisis earlier. We are giving families in Ontario $745. It is $830 in Manitoba, $1,100 in Saskatchewan and almost $1,100 in Albe…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about carbon pricing for a second. In 2007, the Harper government proposed a $15 carbon tax. In 2008, the same government pledged to introduce a cap-and-trade system. In 2011, it was no longer pursuing any of these systems, yet last year the opposition proposed in their election campaign that they supporting carbon pricing again. Canadians want real, serious climate action…
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that our climate action plan provides for a $109‑billion investment in clean energy, in the electrification of transportation and in green electricity generation. That is three times more per capita than what the United States is investing. There are other measures on top of that. We will reduce emissions of methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas, by …
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Mr. Speaker, with climate change, the cost of inaction is enormous. In fact, it is in the billions of dollars, and we have a practical and affordable way to lower pollution. Let us look at the facts. The revenue from pricing pollution in Canada will go back to the provinces where the money was raised, with 90% for families directly and 10% for businesses, municipalities, schools, hospitals and ind…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Sudbury for her question. In my younger days, I would have been on the front lines of today's climate protests, carrying a banner or a megaphone. I actually organized many such protests myself. I can assure the House today that my department and this government are fully committed to taking action on all fronts in the fight against climate change. This incl…
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Mr. Speaker, carbon pricing is widely recognized by nearly everyone including those in this House, except for the Conservative Party, as the most economically efficient way to reduce emissions while driving clean innovation and creating jobs. Do not take it from me. Do not take it from the Bloc Québécois, the NDP or the Greens. Take it from some members of the Conservative Party who have asked tha…
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Mr. Speaker, just two weeks ago I announced a program, a $250-million program, to help tens of thousands of Canadians get off home heating oil and get access to cheaper, cleaner electricity to heat their homes and use in their houses. This is yet another example of how we can tackle the crisis of climate change and help Canadians with affordability. Unfortunately, on these two fronts, the Conserva…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. I am so happy to see these demonstrations all across the country. I actually organized many such events when I was a little younger. I would like to remind my colleague that, since we came to power, fossil fuel subsidies have decreased by over $4 billion a year. We are committed to eliminating those subsidies by next year, 2023, which is two…
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Mr. Speaker, there has been some confusion about the report of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, and the details are important. The PBO report broadly consists of two main parts. The first part looks at direct costs like increased fuel prices, and the revenue that is returned to households. This first part is straightforward and underscores how carbon pricing works. By gradually increasing…
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Mr. Speaker, Parks Canada concluded that producing and validating a comprehensive response to this question would require a significant amount of time and effort, which is not possible in the time allotted and could lead to the disclosure of incomplete and misleading information. The information requested in part (a) related to fire plans and controlled burns is specific to individual national par…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that, as Minister of Environment, I never circumvented environmental assessment rules, unlike my colleague, who did so not once, not twice but three times during his tenure as environment minister. We have a plan. Our plan is working. Pollution levels in Canada are down. We will keep doing what we are doing.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Davenport for her advocacy and her work on these important issues. Selena is right. We need to do better when it comes to protecting our environment, which is why this week we announced that we are banning six single-use plastics that are polluting our rivers and our environment. They are ending up on our streets and everywhere. Between now and 2030, there will …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her work and activism on this issue. I am proud to announce to the House that, at the request of the United Nations, Canada has agreed to host the next United Nations conference on the protection of biological diversity in December. This important conference must be the moment when countries all over the world, including Canada, commit to protecting at le…
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Madam Speaker, in his question, my colleague talked about carbon pricing. I would like to begin by reminding him that federal carbon pricing does not apply in Quebec because Quebec has its own cap-and-trade system. Second, in provinces where carbon pricing is in effect, people get more back from the system than they put into it. In Ontario, families will get $745 this year. In Manitoba, they will …
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Mr. Speaker, as I said and will repeat, we are putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. This cap will be in line with current levels and will decline over time so we can achieve our 2030 and 2050 targets. No matter how much oil is produced, companies will have to respect this greenhouse gas emissions cap to ensure that Canada can reach its 2030 and 2050 targets. That is what we are going to do.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, that is not a claim, but rather a condition for the project to go ahead. This is the first time in this country's history that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has imposed a net-zero condition on a project. Second, I would invite my colleague to read the International Energy Agency report, which states that in 2050, we will still be using fossil fuel products…
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Mr. Speaker, let me give a quick lesson on the greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Canada uses the same methodology as every country in the world, which is the one used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. Simply put, emissions are calculated at the point of combustion. If the oil is burned here, it goes into our emissions balance, and if the oil is burned in the United Stat…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. I completely disagree with her characterization. Our reduction plan is ambitious, but achievable. It shows, sector by sector, how Canada will meet its targets. It is the most transparent plan in the history of the country. We are not the ones saying so. It is a whole host of non-governmental organizations and experts. The analysis that The G…
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Mr. Speaker, what strikes me is that the member does not seem to have read the 2030 emissions reduction plan, because it is a plan to reduce our emissions by 40% to 45%. There is a plan for net zero by 2050, and that plan is coming. If he had read the 2030 plan, the member opposite would see that we have, for the first time in the history of this country, shown how we get to our 2030 targets per s…
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Mr. Speaker, I encourage my hon. colleague to read the latest report from Canada’s official greenhouse gas inventory, which showed that, although oil production in Canada increased by 700,000 barrels in 2019 compared to 2018, greenhouse gas emissions were reduced in 2019 and in 2020. This all shows that our plan is working. We have decided to tackle pollution. We will reduce our methane emissions …
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my colleague to read the entire Globe and Mail article, and not just the headline, because two experts are quoted who believe that what the oil industry is being asked to do is indeed ambitious. What Canada hopes to do is ambitious. I would have expected the Bloc Québécois to support an ambitious approach in the fight against climate change. This plan focuses on the liv…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-23, An Act respecting places, persons and events of national historic significance or national interest, archaeological resources and cultural and natural heritage. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, I stood in this House to announce that we were moving ahead with this very project. I would hope that the member would be happy about that, as we are on this side of the House. We have worked and we will continue to work with indigenous people to build and co-manage national parks in this country.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Cloverdale—Langley City for the important work he did on advancing this very important issue. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plays a central role in our country's official historic designations. Ensuring representation for indigenous peoples on the board is an important step in responding to call to action 79. Today, I introdu…
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Mr. Speaker, our plan is designed so that the majority of households in Canada receive more money from the climate incentive payment than they pay. This has been confirmed through the analysis of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. As carbon prices increase, these payments also increase. For example, this year a family of four will receive up to $745 in Ontario, $830 in Manitoba, $1,100 in the membe…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to pick up on what my finance colleague said. On the issue of carbon pricing, in 2007, the Harper government proposed a $15 tax. In 2008, it proposed a cap-and-trade system, only to change its mind in 2011. In the end, it decided not to do anything about climate change. Surprise, surprise, during the last election campaign, the Conservative Party went back to supporting c…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that the inventories in 2019, well before the pandemic, show that oil production in Canada increased by 700,000 barrels that year, the equivalent of one and a half times the Bay du Nord project. However, greenhouse gas emissions dropped in 2019 compared to 2018. Why? Because our plan tackles pollution, independently of what happens with oil pro…
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Mr. Speaker, how could approve that? The same day we gave the green light to the Bay du Nord project, we rejected an oil sands project that would have emitted 10 times more greenhouse gases per barrel. We have put a cap on methane emissions. We will reduce methane emissions by 40% to 45% by 2025, and by 75% by 2030. No other country in the world has brought in such significant measures. We took th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question and for her advocacy on this important issue. The Bay du Nord project was subject to an independent environmental assessment by experts over the course of more than four years, and these experts gave it a favourable recommendation. There are 137 conditions on this project. For the first time in history, a project will have to be net-zero by 2…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, eight out of 10 Canadians are better off with carbon pricing. They receive more money from carbon pricing, and emissions are going down. He should look at the 2019 inventory and the 2020 inventory. Emissions are going down. Our plan to fight climate change is working.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. As she is probably well aware, the independent international NGO Energy Policy Tracker has shown, quite independently, that the Canadian government is investing more in clean technology and renewable energy than in fossil fuels. Our recovery plan is the greenest of all G7 countries and the second greenest of all G20 countries. That said, we …
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that the issue of climate bombs is not new. When I was at Greenpeace in the 1990s, we actually published a report on this. This is not a new issue, for one thing. The other thing is that we made a commitment to cap greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, and we are working on that. This is one of the things that will allow Canada to meet …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. As she is well aware, just over a month ago we presented our plan to fight climate change. It clearly shows how Canada will meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030. Our plan will work regardless of whether oil production goes up, down or remains constant. Our emissions in 2019, before the pandemic, show that greenhouse gas emission…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Châteauguay—Lacolle for her question and her work on the environment in her riding. When the roof over our heads is leaking, we repair it and then we can think about what to have for dinner. We can and we must mitigate the impacts of climate change and, at the same time, prepare for it. These consultations will lead to the first inclusive n…
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Mr. Speaker, our government is in the process of putting in the first-ever Canadian strategy to reduce plastic pollution, move Canada toward a circular economy, ban single-use plastics and force plastic companies to use more recycled content in the plastic they produce.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. I have two pieces of good news for him. We are investing record amounts in the energy transition, more than has ever been spent in the history of Canada, more than every G7 and G20 country. We are investing more in the green transition as part of our economic recovery plan than any other G20 country. We committed to eliminating the fossil fu…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. As he well knows, we have committed to eliminating fossil fuel subsidies by 2023, two years sooner than our G20 partners. We are the only country to have made that commitment, and the subsidies have already been reduced by more than $3 billion a year since 2018.
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Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague might know, today we launched the consultations on the first-ever national adaptation strategy. It will clearly focus on the most-impacted Canadians, which include, obviously, indigenous communities across the country and certainly racialized communities and the poorest among us. We are at the very beginning of the consultation, but I can assure the member and thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that we have decided to go after pollution. That is exactly what we are doing with our plan. In fact, as oil production increased in 2019, pollution went down, and the New Democrats should be happy about that. Production went up; pollution went down. What else do they want?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for London West for her hard work. I would also like to thank the member for Windsor—Tecumseh for his ongoing support for this file. I am happy to announce that Parks Canada and Transport Canada are signing a memorandum of understanding to pursue a transfer of the Ojibway shore-lands from the Windsor Port Authority to Parks Canada so they can be include…
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Mr. Speaker, a friend recently told me that when there is a fire, we need more firefighters, not fewer. We need more environmentalists in the House, and definitely within government, to advance environmental issues. I am very pleased to be here with my colleagues because, over the past five months, we have presented a plan that will allow Canada to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. No mat…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. On the one hand, a province is suing us because it says we are going too far in environmental assessments. On the other hand, environmental groups say we are doing too little. What we are doing is striking a balance and finding the best possible way to advance environmental assessment and environmental protection in this country.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change denounces the use or threat of violence to achieve personal or societal goals. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms grants everyone the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. The Government of Canada supports the peaceful and lawful expression of these rights. Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is the lead fo…
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Mr. Speaker, we welcome the findings of the commissioner's report. We believe, like him, that Canada should always do better when it comes to fighting climate change. Specifically on infrastructure, we are doing things that have never been seen before in Canada, such as using infrastructure dollars to invest in nature-based solutions. All across the country, this is one of the best ways not only t…
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Madam Speaker, in fact, we have expanded, in the last budget, the purchase incentive for electric vehicles. We have doubled the number of charging stations we will be installing across Canada to 50,000 and we are investing with companies to transform Canada's auto sector from gasoline to electric vehicles. We will be coming up with more measures to help people adopt electric vehicles in the future…
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