44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/24/22 2:16:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a critical shortage of affordable housing in my community. Many people have given up on the idea of ever owning a home, but even finding an affordable place to rent is getting further and further out of reach. B.C. has not been getting its fair share of federal funding under the rapid housing initiative.
Worse still, the supply of older rental stock is being bought up by REITs, real estate income trusts, that use tactics like renovictions to jack up rent, pushing people out of their homes and removing affordable units from the market. Housing advocates and the City of Victoria are calling for a federal acquisition fund to give local governments and non-profits the quick capital to buy properties at risk of being bought up by these predatory REITs.
We must preserve our existing affordable housing stock. It is time for the federal government to return to the table as a true partner with municipalities, indigenous governments and co-operatives to stop treating housing as an investment and start treating housing as a human right.
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- Mar/24/22 3:46:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to echo the comments of some of my colleagues who talked about the need to ensure Canada's tourism industry recovers. There are a lot of other ways that we can do that. One part of it is that the tourism and hospitality recovery program funding will be cut by 50% and will end in May. Also, many seasonal tourism operators were excluded altogether because of the 40% revenue loss requirement for each month, and I am sure the member knows that many tourism businesses are seasonal.
What is the government going to do to ensure that these businesses are not left behind?
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- Mar/24/22 4:12:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on a question from my colleague for Courtenay—Alberni, because the Conservative member he asked did not answer the question. I am curious if this member will answer.
Do the Conservatives support the TRIPS waiver? Do they support temporarily waiving intellectual property rights, so that low-income countries can produce their own vaccines and we can protect the whole world?
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- Mar/24/22 4:30:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his amazing work chairing our environment and sustainable development committee.
I would like to ask the hon. member about his government's decision not to support the TRIPS waiver. We know that vaccination is key around the world to keeping people in low-income countries safe but also to keeping people here in Canada safe. I am curious if the member agrees that we need to temporarily waive intellectual property rights so that low-income countries could produce vaccines and save lives.
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- Mar/24/22 7:48:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the recent IPCC report is a dire warning about the climate crisis and the consequences of empty Liberal promises. The UN Secretary General called the report an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership”.
Canadians have already been dealing with the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. It is threatening everything that we value. The report warns that half of the global population lives in areas considered highly vulnerable to the changing climate. Millions of people are already facing floods and water shortages. There are mass die-offs of species. Key ecosystems are losing their ability to act as carbon sinks. We know that racialized communities, indigenous communities and marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted. It is one of the reasons we need an office of environmental justice.
Climate breakdown is rapidly accelerating and many climate impacts will be more severe than previously predicted. The brief window to ensure a livable future is rapidly closing. Despite years of warnings from experts, the Prime Minister is not showing the climate leadership that people in Canada are looking for. This report is a call to stop making empty promises. We must take urgent action now.
Instead of acting with the urgency that is needed, the Liberals continue to subsidize the largest polluters in the oil and gas industry. They have purchased a pipeline, and they are delaying climate goals at the peril of Canadians and their communities. Canada has missed every single climate target, and we have the worst record on climate of any G7 country.
The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, passed in the last Parliament, requires that the government publish an emissions reduction plan to show how it plans to meet its 2030 target of a 40% to 45% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. That this is an inadequate target when the IPCC report says that we need to cut our emissions by at least 50%, and we should be going farther for our fair share.
That plan is due next week, and this week the net-zero advisory body published its first round of advice on what the government should include in that plan. That body has told the government to set and implement legally binding oil and gas sector emissions targets without delay, but the government still has not decided what its promised oil and gas emissions cap will be. The net-zero advisory body has also told the government that carbon removals and offsets should only be used as a last resort.
The IPCC also points to the uncertainty in the future deployment of carbon capture and storage, and cautions against reliance on this technology, but the government is pushing forward with a tax credit for carbon capture and utilization storage. This is another subsidy to the oil and gas companies at a time when they are making record profits and Canadians are being gouged at the pump. Canadians are struggling to pay for food, medication and housing. If carbon capture and utilization storage is critical to these companies' plans, and they are making record profits, then there is no reason that they cannot pay for these investments themselves.
The Liberals have promised to meet Canada's G20 commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies two years early by 2023, but Environment and Climate Change Canada recently confirmed that it does not have a concrete definition for what an inefficient fossil fuel subsidy is or a complete list of the subsidies to review. How do they expect Canadians to trust that they are on track to end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies when they cannot even define what it is that they are phasing out? Canada should be using internationally agreed upon definitions of fossil fuel subsidies that align with our climate commitments to eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2022 and ensure that we are in line with keeping global warming—
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- Mar/24/22 7:57:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the IPCC is clear: All levels of government have only a narrow window to implement key climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to secure a livable future. However, while Canadians are struggling with the cost of living, the government continues to give handouts to oil and gas companies that are making record profits.
Canada is one of the biggest funders of the oil and gas sector in the G20, and Export Development Canada is the worst offender. Under this Prime Minister, Canada has given more than 14 times the financial support to fossil fuels than it has to renewables. We need to make sure that EDC financing is in line with Canada's commitments to hold global warming to 1.5°C.
Will the minister and the parliamentary secretary commit to telling Export Development Canada to clean up its act and stop financing fossil fuels?
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