Oral Questions
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 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, 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 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, 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 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, 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, 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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Mr. Speaker, I have good news for the member opposite. Emissions are going down in Canada. The government's own emissions are going down by 25%. We have already reached a target we had set for ourselves for 2025. Fossil fuel subsidies are also going down, by more than $3 billion a year since 2018.
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Mr. Speaker, the short answer is no. The long answer is the commissioner says that carbon pricing is one of the most important measures to fight greenhouse gas emissions. That is exactly what we are doing. The commissioner says that eight out of 10 Canadians are getting more money through carbon pricing than without it. The commissioner said that the federal government would reach its 25% emission…
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Mr. Speaker, as the commissioner recognized in his report, eight out of 10 Canadians are getting more money through carbon pricing than without it. We are working with small businesses to ensure that the rest of the revenues are recycled. We already have an agreement with Ontario, and it is happening with the rest of the provinces in Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I also thank the Commissioner of the Environment for his work. I have been following the work of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development for more than two decades. This work is certainly very important to our government and should be important to all governments since it helps us to do better. We want our climate change pl…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we take climate change adaptation very seriously, which is why last year we started working with expert panels to design Canada's first national adaptation strategy, which is expected to be adopted this year. We are working with the provinces and territories, indigenous peoples, municipalities and other stakeholders to develop Canada's first national adaptat…
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Mr. Speaker, I suggest that my hon. colleague take a look at the latest official greenhouse gas emissions inventory report, which shows that in 2019, before the pandemic, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions went down, even though oil production increased by 700,000 barrels. It does not end there. There were 100 measures, $110 billion in investments and a huge number of regulatory measures to make Ca…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we welcome the commissioner's latest report and thank him for his findings. I do not know what is so controversial about that. Over the last six years, we have made major progress on everything from putting a price on pollution to protecting historic amounts of our lands and water. As we have planned in budget 2022 and the emissions reduction plan, we are transition…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sudbury. Protecting and conserving nature is one of the most important measures we can take to slow biodiversity loss while fighting climate change and advancing the reconciliation process with indigenous peoples. Nature is what ties all these important causes together. This project will protect 15,000 square kilometres of critical habitat for species at risk…
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Madam Speaker, my thanks to my hon. colleague for Saanich—Gulf Islands for retabling this bill. She is right: The government supports this bill. I also want to thank her for her many years and decades of activism on environmental racism because it is a thing, despite what some people, unfortunately even in the House, think. My question to the member is this. She touched on it, but can she elaborat…
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Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), pricing carbon pollution is widely recognized as the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas, GHG, emissions while driving innovation to provide consumers and businesses with low-carbon options. Canada’s approach to pricing carbon pollution provides flexibility for provinces and territories to implement a carbon pricing system that makes sense for their circums…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Just last week, we made a joint announcement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada about the largest private land conservation project in this country's history, which will protect an area twice the size of the island of Montreal. We are working with our international partners to make our goal of protecting 30% of our lands and oceans by 203…
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague that the IPCC report says that greenhouse gas emissions have to be capped over the next three years and decline thereafter. That is already the case in Canada. The IPCC says we have to reduce our emissions by at least 43% by 2030. Our goal is to reduce them by 40% to 45%. Honestly, my colleague is one to talk, given that her leader, the former environment m…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his question. I would like to remind him that in its report this week, the IPCC refers to carbon capture and storage as a key technology for achieving our net-zero target by 2050. That is exactly what we are doing in Canada. Our latest budget encourages the development of this technology and all technologies that will help u…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I invite her to reread the budget, because more than $9.1 billion will be invested in the fight against climate change, $1.7 billion will continue to help Canadians switch to electric vehicles, and hundreds of millions of dollars will help Canadians and Quebeckers lower their home energy bills through the energy efficient retrofit program. In its…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Châteauguay—Lacolle for her question and her advocacy for the electrification of transportation. In order to support the energy transition and position Canada as an economic powerhouse in the future, we are not only investing in making electric vehicles more affordable, we are also ensuring that Canada is a global leader across the supply chain, from ext…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe the conversation yesterday was about our investments working, so maybe I can quote some investments that have been made in his province of Ontario: $6 billion with GM in Oshawa for an electric vehicle plant and $5 billion between LG and Stellantis in Windsor to make the transition to electric vehicles. These are only some of the investments we have made. In fact, our emissio…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for La Prairie. I find it quite ironic that the Bloc Québécois is asking to cancel projects supported by the provinces, when its position is always to tell the federal government to mind its own business. In this particular case, the provincial sovereignty issue is on a bit of a sliding scale. I would answer my colleague's question with another question. Would …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that the Bay du Nord project underwent a four-year, independent environmental assessment, not to mention consultations with scientists, experts and 42 indigenous communities. I would also like to remind him that his leader allowed drilling on Anticosti Island without any environmental assessment whatsoever. We, on our side, have been assessing …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie that the IPCC stated that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, countries must reduce their emissions by 43% by 2030. Canada's objective is to reduce emissions by 40% to 45%. The IPCC said that all sectors must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The plan we introduced in the House last week clearly shows how all s…
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Mr. Speaker, what the IPCC said in its report this week is that in order to prevent global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5°C, countries have to reduce, between now and 2030, their greenhouse gas emissions by 43%. We are on track to reducing them by 40% to 45%. The IPCC said that every sector of our economy needs to be reducing its emissions. I tabled last week in the House a report that shows …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. I have never owned a car, and probably never will. However, the train I take to Ottawa, the airplanes many of us use, run and will run for a long time on oil—
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These vehicles and many others we need will continue to use oil. That is why we chose a project for the planet that emits 10 times less greenhouse gas emissions than the oil sands and five times less than the average project. This project will have to achieve net-zero emissions. This is the first time in Canadian history that we have imposed such a condition on an oil development project. We will …
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Mr. Speaker, the plan we tabled in the House last week was based on several sources of information, including information from the Canada Energy Regulator showing that oil production is projected to increase. Despite this, the plan we tabled does a very good job of demonstrating how we will meet our 2030 targets in all sectors. This plan has been praised by all stakeholders across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, I assure my colleague that he was not talking about Canada. We have a price on pollution that is among the most ambitious in the world. We have regulations on methane emissions, and we will cut those emissions almost in half by 2025 and by 75% by 2030. That is one of the most ambitious targets on the planet. We are investing in electrification and public transit, to decarbonize the al…
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Mr. Speaker, when we reformed environmental impact assessments under Bill C-69, we made a commitment that we were going to depoliticize the process of environmental projects in Canada. Our government has accepted the environmental impact assessment done by the agency, which conducted a rigorous, robust and transparent process that lasted almost four years. This project will include requirements fo…
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Mr. Speaker, the IPCC did not say what he just said. The secretary general of the United Nations said that. There is a big difference. The IPCC said every country needs to reduce its emissions by 43% by 2030. That is exactly what we are doing. The IPCC said any fossil fuel that we will still be using needs to be abated. That is exactly what we are doing by putting in place mandatory measures for n…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and her advocacy. Our government recognizes the importance of the decision on Equinor's Bay du Nord development project. We are following a legislated process based on the available scientific evidence. That is why we extended the legislated timeline in order to take the time to properly review the considerable amount of complex information and ma…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I would like to quote what some people had to say when we presented our plan last week. Équiterre's Marc‑André Viau stated, “We welcome the emissions reduction plan because this is the first time that we have such a detailed strategy to reach a target”. I would like to remind my colleague that our plan is based on, among other things, data from t…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right that there are some people, like the Conservatives, who talk about climate change. Others, like those on this side of the House, are taking action by putting a price on pollution, which is already one of the highest in the world. We are on our way to cutting methane emissions by 40% to 45% by 2025. We have an objective of 75%, which is the most ambitious objectiv…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Pontiac for the question. Our plan allocates $9.2 billion in additional investments. The plan also includes an ambitious and achievable sector-by-sector approach for Canada to reach its climate target by 2030. The plan has been in development for months and reflects submissions from more than 30,000 Canadians. I want everyone to know that we have received a lot …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his question. As he is well aware, we committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies, including those for Crown corporations, by 2023, which is two years earlier than all of our G20 partners. Last week, we announced $9.1 billion in new money on top of the $100 billion our government is already investing across Canada to make this coun…
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are very seized with the emergency, which is why we presented the most ambitious, transparent and solid climate change plan we have ever seen in this country. Do not take it from me. Take it from Greenpeace. Take it from Équiterre. Take it from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Take it from Andrew Weaver—
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Mr. Speaker, I was having problems hearing my own voice. Our plan is such a good plan that organizations such as Greenpeace, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities—
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Mr. Speaker, I was saying that Andrew Weaver, an IPCC scientist and ex-leader of the B.C. Green Party, said that with the plan we tabled last week, Canada reclaims its status as an international leader on climate change. Do not take it from me; take it from him.
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Mr. Speaker, I have here Canada's greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan, and on page 90, it says—
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, on page 90 of the plan, it says that the oil and gas sector could reduce emissions by 80 million tonnes. That is the most ambitious target of any sector. It would be like cutting all of Quebec's greenhouse gas emissions combined. Our plan is serious, it is solid, and it will enable us to meet our targets.
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that our plan, which is based on projections from the Canada Energy Regulator, provides for increased production in Canada, but we are addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Sabaa Khan, director general for Quebec and Atlantic Canada at the David Suzuki Foundation, said, “This plan has a better chance of success than any of Canada's previous climate plan…
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