Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we have to look at every possible technology that will help us reduce greenhouse gases. In fact, when it comes to carbon capture and storage, the IPCC itself produced a report a few years ago looking at this very technology, saying that we might have to do it because we will not be able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to prevent 1.5°C of global warming.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, with respect to (a), the proposed clean fuel regulations, referred hereafter as the proposed regulations, will result in an increased demand for lower carbon intensity, CI, fuels in Canada, which could be met by increased imports and/or increased domestic production. The government has established a $1.5 billion clean fuels fund to support the domestic production of lower CI fuels to …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), while there is no commonly held definition, there has been a general understanding that fossil fuel subsidies encompass price controls, cash subsidies and tax preferences—i.e., concessions from a particular country’s “normal” level of taxation—whether aimed at producers or consumers of fossil fuel. The term “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies also lacks a commonly …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada recognized that climate change is one of the great challenges of our times and that to thrive in a net-zero world, Canada must do its part to reduce emissions and ensure that the transition to clean growth is just and equitable. As these are still early days, the government is seeking the input of the net-zero advisory body on key principles for implementing t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, departments and agencies that generate greenhouse gas, GHG, emissions in excess of one kilotonne per year from air travel have been required since 2019-20 to contribute annually to the greening government fund, GGF, www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government/greening-gov-fund.html. They have been charged a TBS-set fee based on the average total…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada provided advice to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change with respect to the potential for existing legislative mechanisms to address adverse effects from the Pitt Meadows Road and rail project. The agency understands that diesel emissions resulting from the project would be managed through the following provincial and federal legislatio…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, if my hon. colleague knew anything about tree planting, he would know that we need to grow the seedlings for between two and three years. I have planted trees—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite well knows, the world of energy is changing all around the world. We are seeing record levels of investment in clean technologies and renewable energy. In fact, if we look at which part of Canada is receiving the most investment in renewable energy, it is not my home province of Quebec, and it is not Ontario or British Columbia. It is in Alberta that we are seei…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, anyone who has planted trees would know that it takes between two to three years to grow them so they can be safely planted. I have planted trees. I have even been known to hug trees from time to time. Our government is engaged in fighting climate change. We have invested $100 billion in the last six years, with more than 100 measures, and we will keep going.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Canada is a steadfast ally of Israel and a friend of the Palestinian people. We are committed to the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. Our position remains that this can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. We are very concerned about the issue of pesticides, which is why we decided to take action in this area. We made a number of commitments during the election campaign that we will be working on over the next few months, because this is an important issue.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, we completely agree that more transparency is needed. That is why we have called for an independent review of some of the processes that are already in place regarding pesticide approvals. We will continue to work on this issue in the coming months.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, as a young activist, I worked for two years for the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, and I am particularly proud to stand on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs today—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, as I was saying, as a young activist, I worked for two years for the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, and I am proud to stand on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to thank the member for Mississauga—Streetsville for her question. I am pleased to say that Canada has imposed additional sanctions today on entities affiliated with Myanmar's military regime. Today's announcement…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country for raising this important issue and for doing so in French. In the last election, Canadians clearly told us that they wanted the government to move faster and do more to address climate change. Whether it is our 2030 targets, reaching net zero by 2050, protecting 25% of our lands and oceans by 2025 …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, let me reassure the hon. member that the commitment of our government is to phase out fossil fuel subsidies that are aimed at increasing the production of said fossil fuels. Going forward, we will support every industrial sector, every sector of our economy, to decarbonize. We will be helping the cement sector, the aluminum sector and the auto sector. We will also be helping the oil…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I beg to differ on many of the assumptions that the member has made, but I will speak specifically to the issue of fossil fuel subsidies. I will say to this House and to the member that Canada remains committed to phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, as was committed to by G20 countries in Pittsburgh in 2009, and that we committed to do so two years earlier than our G20 pa…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my esteemed colleague for her decades-long activism on this file. I am making this address from my service vehicle, a 100% electric vehicle, in transit to Ottawa, which is not to make a statement about my street cred on environmental issues but I would simply point that out. My government wishes to thank the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development f…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. She is right. The objective in everything we do has to be a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric concentrations. As she is well aware, our latest records clearly show that we have started to do that. However, I agree with her. We must pick up the pace and do more. That is the message we got from Canadians in the last election. Canadians told…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, our government has been hard at work since 2015, to support the transition in Canada with the transformation of our energy sector, our transportation sector and our industrial sector to a low-carbon economy for all Canadians and for all sectors of the economy, as well as the nation.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would point out to my colleague that the last inventory, Canada's greenhouse gas inventory, actually shows that without our government action and thanks to the inheritance from the Harper government on climate change, emissions in 2030 would be 30 million tonnes higher than they would have been without our intervention. That is almost half the emissions of all of Quebec. Our plan is…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to actually read the report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, which clearly shows that he did not look at the measures we have deployed since 2016 to fight climate change in Canada. In fact, his report points out that under the Harper government there was nothing done on climate change in Canada. The commissioner ack…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague that we already have one of the highest carbon prices in the world. In terms of carbon pricing, we have surpassed Quebec, California and British Columbia, and we will surpass Europe in 2022. Of all the countries in the world, especially oil- and gas-producing countries, Canada has the highest target for reducing emissions of methane, a very potent greenhous…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague for his question. However, I would invite him to read very carefully the report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, which clearly shows that his analysis pertains to the years before our government took office. The commissioner himself acknowledged that he did not look at the 100-some measures we put in place in our …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I challenge anyone in the House to show me a country that has done more in the last four years to fight climate change than Canada has done. There has been record-level investment in public transit. There has been record-level investment in—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we agree on the matter of subsidizing fossil fuels. That is why our country committed to eliminating these subsidies by 2023, two years before our G20 partners' goal of 2025. In Glasgow, we also announced that we, along with many other countries, would stop financing international fossil fuel projects.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pontiac and congratulate her on her impressive career at the OECD before joining our ranks. Canada has done a lot of work on combatting climate change. I could talk about everything that we achieved in Glasgow, such as the $5.3 billion for developing countries, including $1 billion to help the poorest countries reduce their dependence on coal, and the $1 bill…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there has been record-level investment of $4 billion in electrification of transportation, in nature-based solutions and in adaptation to climate change. However, the fight is not over. We have lots more to do, and that is what we will be doing.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we welcome the report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. We commend his work, especially his latest report, which paints a truly dismal picture of the Harper years. The commissioner did not look at our 2016 plan or our 2020 plan, or the 100 or so measures we have put in place, or the nearly $100 billion we have invested. All of these measures will he…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I would like to make a few points. She talked about coal. She should know that Canada now has legislation to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030. She should also know that it took us just a few years to implement one of the planet's highest prices on pollution. Our price is higher than Quebec's, British Columbia's and California's. Next year, …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, before I share my observations, I would just like to congratulate you on your recent re-election as the members' unanimous choice to co-chair the House. I am privileged to rise and speak to an issue that is on all Canadians' minds no matter where they live or their socioeconomic reality. We all know that this is a tragically historic event. I have no doubt that everyone in the House…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for the opposition leader. Is he aware that we have started to implement an adaptation strategy that is already delivering results by funding tangible projects from coast to coast to coast? Take Montreal, where a park is being built with the collaboration of the city and the federal government. These are nature-based solutions that represent tens of millions of …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, earlier this evening I pointed to very concrete things that are happening in this country because of our government, namely the 300 transit projects under construction from one side of the country to the other and the record-level investments in the electrification of transportation. By the end of next year, 16,000 charging stations will be installed across the country, as more and …
Read full speech →