Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I would like to read a few extracts from a CBC article from last week that reads: “Three independent senators say they were bullied by Conservative Leader [in the Senate] Don Plett”. It says, “Police and the Senate security team are also now investigating outside threats directed at [Senator] Clement”. It continues: “threatening phone calls and online harassment …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that we are the only G20 country to have eliminated fossil fuel subsidies two years ahead of schedule. Not only has no one else done this, but we did it two years ahead of schedule. We have already introduced regulations to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by at least 40% by 2025. We have implemented carbon pricing and, as I…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy. We will, as the Prime Minister has said, publish before the end of the year the framework to put a cap on the emissions of the oil and gas sector, because he is right. These emissions have continued to rise over the year, while other sectors like agriculture, electricity and buildings have reduced their emissions. The oil and gas sector must…
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Mr. Speaker, after the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle posted a photo of the female senators who opposed Bill C‑234, the Senate and the police had to launch an investigation in response to the threats these independent senators received. We do not tell senators how to vote, unlike the Conservative Party, which not only tells them how to vote, but encourages them to bully other senators who do not thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my colleague that there are no longer any Liberal senators. There are Conservative senators. Since we took office in 2015, we have appointed independent senators. Anyone who works with the Senate knows that they are independent. We do not tell the Senate what to do. The Conservative Party is the one telling Conservative senators what to do and how to vote, and i…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party of Canada should be ashamed of asking this question in this House after they directed their MPs to bully senators who disagreed with them. One of them had to apologize for bullying some of his colleagues in the Senate. They should be ashamed of themselves. We are not telling senators how to vote. They are doing it, and they are asking them to bully other senator…
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Mr. Speaker, I think facts matter in this conversation. According to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, putting a price on pollution has contributed 0.15% to inflation, and not 15%, as the Conservatives are saying. Economists agree across the country that our pollution pricing system puts more money back into eight out of 10 households in Canada. If we take that away, we will take money away from…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member that putting a price on pollution is what enables us to reduce emissions by the equivalent of removing 11 million vehicles from our roads. In Canada right now, there are 26 million vehicles on our roads. We can imagine, if we added 11 million vehicles, the pollution that we would see in our cities and the level of asthma that our kids would have to go…
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Mr. Speaker, in addition to everything I said earlier, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that we have a plan to fight climate change that has been praised by Equiterre, Greenpeace, Environmental Defence and the David Suzuki Foundation, and we are the only country in the G20 that has ended fossil fuel subsidies, two years ahead of schedule no less. We are the only country in the G20 that is …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her question and reassure her. Indeed, my former colleagues, who are still my friends, from the environmental community were on the Hill. I speak with them regularly. Over the past few years, we have taken a number of steps to tackle pollution from the oil and gas sector, such as pollution pricing and methane emissions regulations. Furthermo…
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Mr. Speaker, what is disappointing for many of the people watching us right now is the fact that the opposition member, who was part of a government that supported carbon pricing and who advocated in favour of fighting climate change, is now flip-flopping. Gone is her belief in climate change. Gone is her belief that it is important to fight to protect the environment our children and grandchildre…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record. The Harper government did not meet any of the environment targets it had. We are on track and are 85% of the way to meeting our 2030 targets. We have six years left to get there, and we will meet the interim 2026 targets. We are meeting our targets when it comes to climate change, protecting nature and phasing out plastic pollution. Conservatives do…
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my colleague to actually watch the proceedings from the environment committee this morning where the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development said that not only was carbon pricing working, but it was responsible for 30% of the emissions we have seen in Canada since we took office. Nothing would have happened under the Conservative Party. It has no pla…
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Mr. Speaker, we are getting there. We are 85% of the way to meeting our 2030 targets. Do members know what is worse than not even trying? It is not even being willing to admit that climate change exists. Last week, the Leader of the Opposition was asked in a scrum, right over there, whether he would meet the Paris targets. He was like a deer in front of headlights. He could not even answer the que…
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Mr. Speaker, we are getting there. We are 85% of the way to meeting—
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Mr. Speaker, I find it quite ironic that the member campaigned for the leadership of his party on a carbon taxing platform. Now, all of a sudden, it does not work and he does not believe in it. This morning, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development was at the environment committee. He said that pollution pricing not only is working, but it is also responsible for up to 30% o…
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Mr. Speaker, I am quite pleased to reply to my hon. colleague, through you, that I am proud to be part of a government that not only believes in climate change, but that has been fighting to put measures in place for eight years. It is working. We have gone from a more than 12% increase in greenhouse gases to 8% below 2005 levels. I am certainly not thanking the Conservative Party, because it did …
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and dignity to stand behind the promises we made to Canadians in the last election. We promised to continue putting a price on pollution. That is what we are doing. The Conservative Party made the same promise, but now it is reneging. We promised to institute a clean fuel standard. That is what we did. The Conservative Party made the same promise, but now it is reneg…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, what the Leader of the Opposition is saying is still factually incorrect. We have not missed any of our targets. The only target we have is for 2030. Canada has missed many targets because, for 10 years, the Conservative Party did nothing to fight climate change. It did nothing to support clean energy. It did nothing to support the electrification of transportation. It …
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Mr. Speaker, what the Leader of the Opposition is saying in the House is factually incorrect. The facts are as follows: We have had the best performance in greenhouse gas reductions since 2019. We have a plan that has been applauded by environmental organizations, research organizations and municipalities. Even the oil companies have applauded our climate plan. This morning, at the environment com…
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Mr. Speaker, it is good to see my colleague in the House. I agree with the findings of the commissioner. We need to do more. Our plan shows that we are at 34%, towards a 40% emissions reduction target. Since the environment commissioner did the study, we have put up a number of new measures to help fight climate change and accelerate the reduction of climate pollution, including a zero-emission ve…
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Mr. Speaker, sadly, what my colleague is saying in the House is again false. Since we took office, wind power production in Canada has increased by 60%. The GM, Stellantis, Volkswagen and Northvolt projects are all projects that the Conservative Party opposes. They also oppose battery manufacturing in Quebec and the investments in Ontario. We are here to create a sustainable economy for generation…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct my colleague. What he said is inaccurate. Carbon pricing works, and the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development confirmed it this morning at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. I invite my colleague to take a look at the transcript of that meeting. Not only does carbon pricing work, it is responsible for 30% of…
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Mr. Speaker, I am a Liberal and proud socialist, but this reminds me of when Prime Minister Harper talked about the fight against climate change as a socialist plot. That is what the Conservative Party thinks. Here it is. We have it again. Conservatives do not believe that climate change is an issue. They do not believe we should do anything about it. They oppose the electrification of transportat…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. As we know, oil is the dirtiest and most expensive form of heating. Moreover, it has seen the biggest price jump over the past year. Obviously, that is because of everything that is happening on the world markets. Our heat pump program aims to save every family that installs a heat pump $2,500, on average, across the country. We are working …
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Mr. Speaker, last week, after asking what my former Greenpeace colleagues thought of my work, my hon. colleague changed his mind and asked what Equiterre thinks. I have here for him a quote from Equiterre about our climate change action plan: “this is the first time that we have such a detailed strategy to reach a target that we have set.” Would my colleague like a quote from the David Suzuki Foun…
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Mr. Speaker, if my hon. colleague bothered to actually listen to the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development's press conference he would have heard him say—and these are his words—that the plan we presented last year is the best plan to fight climate change in the history of this country. I did not say that, the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development did. C…
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that there is a coalition in the House: There is the Liberal Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois, the Green Party and the New Democratic Party, who all believe that climate change is an existential challenge. The one party in the House that does not believe it is the Conservative Party. There are four parties in the House who think we should do something to fight climate ch…
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Mr. Speaker, I am a big fan of Infoman. Last week's program featured a segment on half-truths told by the Conservative Party of Canada. Not once but twice during the program, Infoman found that a statement made by the Conservatives was false. The Conservatives say that carbon pricing has a 16% impact on inflation, but that is untrue. According to Infoman, that impact is 0.15%. The program correcte…
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Mr. Speaker, what exactly does common sense mean when several members of the opposition party are former members of the governments of Quebec, British Columbia and New Brunswick? Back then, those members spoke in favour of carbon pricing. Back then, they believed in climate change. They believed climate change was an important issue. About 200,000 families in Quebec use oil to heat their homes. Oi…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct something that was said in the House earlier this week. The Governor of the Bank of Canada said that, each year, carbon pricing contributes 0.15% to inflation, an effect he describes as “quite small” from one year to the next. This idea that carbon pricing raises the price of everything is a myth, and the Governor of the Bank of Canada says as much.
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Mr. Speaker, there were $340 million in damages from storms in Ontario, over $720 million from wildfires in B.C., over $300 million from storms in Alberta and the Prairies and over $170 million from flooding in Nova Scotia. This is what climate change has cost Canadians just this summer, and these are insured costs. The total costs are three times that. The climate-denying Conservative Party of Ca…
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Mr. Speaker, given the enthusiasm generated by the questions from our colleagues on the other side of the House earlier, several of us wanted to answer. I was unable to respond to the member for Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier who asked me what Greenpeace thought of my work as Minister of the Environment. In an interview with Patrick Lagacé on 98.5, the Greenpeace representative said that I was the best …
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Mr. Speaker, according to a recent study by the Public Policy Forum, “Offshore wind could be for Atlantic Canada what oil was to Texas or hydro power to Quebec.” It has said that this is “monumental”. The region could supply 6.5 million average homes twice the electricity currently consumed in Atlantic Canada. I guess many Canadians are wondering why the Conservatives are standing in the way of cl…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the information we just heard in the House. Canada is the first G20 country to have eliminated fossil fuel subsidies two years ahead of the 2025 schedule. We did that this year and we will go even further since we are also eliminating public support for fossil fuels. No other G20 country has done that. We are the first.
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Mr. Speaker, how ironic it is to hear the member speak out against carbon pricing, because he was part of a government. He worked for Sam Hamad, a member of the government of Jean Charest, who is seen as a North American champion in the fight against climate change. Arnold Schwarzenegger once called Mr. Charest the greatest head of a state or province in North America in terms of fighting climate …
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Mr. Speaker, what is shocking is that at least four Quebec MPs from the Conservative Party once voted for carbon pricing and spoke in favour of carbon pricing. Today they are flip-flopping because they have a leader who is ideologically opposed to fighting climate change and to doing anything at all to help Canadians deal with the impact of climate change and reduce our pollution.
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Mr. Speaker, what surprises many members of the House and many people watching at home is that a party aspiring to form government has no climate change plan, no adaptation plan. Just yesterday, La Presse reported that this summer's torrential rains in Quebec are going to cost our farmers $150 million as a result of climate change. What are the Conservatives proposing? They want to make pollution …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind this House that before we came to power in 2015, emissions projections by 2030 were going to be 80 million tonnes above our 2005 levels. We have now brought this down to 50 million tonnes below our 2005 levels. That is the equivalent of removing from our roads 20 million gas-powered vehicles. We have had the best record in the G7 for reducing greenhouse gas emis…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a bit difficult for me to speak after this member who, for many years, was part of a government that was the first in North America to implement a carbon tax, the Government of Quebec. She was part of the government that did that. An article in this morning's edition of La Presse said that Quebec had a record rainfall of 265 millimetres, the most rain it has seen since 19…
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Mr. Speaker, I remind my hon. colleague that we unveiled the very first national climate change adaptation strategy in Canadian history last June. The strategy was praised by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, among others, who called it brave and bold. We are working with all stakeholders, including in agriculture, and with our provincial, territorial and municipal partners to implement solutions to…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about our record in terms of greenhouse gas reduction which, no thanks to the Conservative Party, we have been able to do over the last few years. However, let us talk about the record number of electric vehicles that are being deployed, with 10% of sales now in Canada for electric vehicles, something the Leader of the Opposition does not even believe in. He thinks it …
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Mr. Speaker, I think that if he watched the show once, twice, or three times, maybe he should have practised his question once, twice, or three times. It is not entirely clear what he was asking. I think he was talking about carbon pricing. Carbon pricing is in place across the country, from coast to coast. We have made sure there is a fair mechanism for all Canadians. We support Canadians in the …
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to watch that episode of Les coulisses du pouvoir again. I am actually happy that he watches Radio-Canada, because his party wants to slash CBC/Radio-Canada's funding. He should watch that interview again, because what I said was that we are there to help people. All the measures that we have implemented, from dental care and child care to fighting cli…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record. When we came into power in 2015, projections in emissions growth in Canada were growing and, in 2030, we would be 80 million tonnes above our 2005 levels. We took that out of the atmosphere and we reduced emissions by another 50 million tonnes. That is the equivalent of removing from our roads more than 20 million vehicles. That is one of the things…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that I was opposed to what the Ford government was trying to do in the Greenbelt in the greater Toronto area. Sadly, the Conservatives across the way supported it. We are here to protect the environment across the country. In the past month alone, we have signed agreements with the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nova Scotia to protect one m…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe the Leader of the Opposition is getting his words confused in French. I would like to remind him that, today, at a time when climate change is affecting everyone around the world, in order to be responsible, a party that wants to form the government must have a plan to fight climate change and to help with affordability issues. Unfortunately, the Conservatives do not have a …
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Mr. Speaker, our government has done more than any other to ensure that large oil companies do their fair share when it comes to paying taxes and fighting climate change. We already have regulations in place to ensure that they reduce methane emissions, a very powerful greenhouse gas, by at least 40% by 2025 and at least 75% by 2030. We are imposing a cap on the emissions of the oil and gas sector…
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that keeping up with everything we are doing to fight climate change is difficult. I can understand that the member opposite would be a bit confused. I am going to help him out. The clean fuel standard applies across Canada. It applies elsewhere and it still applies today in the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Alberta and even British Columbia. It is completely different from c…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. I would also like to remind him that what he is talking about is called a clean fuel standard. That is something that was in the Conservative Party of Canada's 2021 election platform. The member and his colleagues campaigned for the implementation of such a measure during the last election. Why? The reason is that it reduces th…
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