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House Hansard - 100

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 22, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Sep/22/22 7:16:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in Adjournment Proceedings this evening to pursue a question I asked on World Oceans Day. World Oceans Day, June 8, is observed every single year within what is the United Nations' and Canada's Environment Week. I asked about the impact of the climate crisis on our oceans and whether the government was prepared to take it seriously. Every single second, and I need to repeat that because when we ask questions in 30 seconds in question period it goes rather quickly, every single second of every single minute of every single hour of every single day, every second, the equivalent of seven Hiroshima nuclear bombs' worth of heating is absorbed by our oceans due to our burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests, the problem that gets referred to as the climate crisis. I put forward that we are seeing changes in our ocean currents that are massively dangerous. We are seeing ocean levels rising; the acidity levels are rising in our ocean water, and the oxygen levels in many of our oceans are dropping. One particular example is the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There are members in this place who have connections to Atlantic Canada. I am a member from British Columbia, but my family is still on Cape Breton Island. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is Canada's most productive marine ecosystem. It provides billions of dollars of wealth to the Atlantic region. We still have a fishery, despite the collapse of the North Atlantic cod. There is a fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but the Gulf of St. Lawrence is experiencing rapid deoxygenation and acidification. Why? It is because the Gulf Stream is stalling and the Labrador Current is stalling. What happens is that whereas the Gulf of St. Lawrence used to be refreshed with the colder water from the Labrador Current, which was full of oxygen, the Gulf of St. Lawrence is now being recharged by a stalling, warmer, deoxygenated Gulf Stream. All of this, of course, points to the fact that the climate crisis is not a manageable issue, like putting some kind of a filter at the end of a tailpipe and keeping on polluting. That is the approach the government has taken. Its so-called solution of net zero by 2050 is nothing but propaganda. As I pointed out to the parliamentary secretary in that debate, net zero by 2050 is not a goal; it is an epitaph. It is true that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most eminent scientific and most rigorous process ever invented for any issue, has made it clear that, yes, by 2050 we must be at net zero and we must meet the commitments to hold to as far below 2°C as possible and, if possible, hold to 1.5°C. However, net zero by 2050 is a lie and propaganda, if that is all that is mentioned and it is not mentioned that in order to have it make any difference, the curve of that line starts with a rapid drop. In other words, we must ensure that before 2025, global emissions stop rising and start decreasing. We also must ensure that by 2030, that curve is dropped so fast that it is about half of what it was in 2010, and then it levels out. I am afraid the human brain rather translates net zero by 2050 as if we have lots of time, but the line does not go gradually. The line must go down sharply, which means that when the government approves Bay du Nord and insists on completing Trans Mountain, it is foreclosing on any hope of holding to a livable world.
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Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22
Ms. Julie Dabrusin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)
  • Sep/22/22 7:20:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate that the member opposite is talking about oceans. They are extremely important, and that is why we have put so much work into the oceans protection plan. I was happy to hear the news, for example, that in the past three years, not one right whale has died, and this is because of the efforts we are putting into protecting our oceans environment. It is tremendously important. Also, as someone who has a riding on the Great Lakes, I was really happy to see investments and supports for Great Lakes protections. Some of the things we see are smaller, but they have a big impact. In my own community, we are naturalizing the mouth of the Don River, which is something that is actually going to provide protection to our lake. It will reintroduce wetlands to industrial lands where there have not been for a long time. That is the largest infrastructure project in all of North America, and it is happening here in Canada. It is going to have some wonderful effects on our fresh water. However, the member opposite was talking about climate change. I agree with her that climate change is the essential issue that we must tackle, and there is no time to waste. I absolutely agree with her on that. Now, it is also important to talk about what we are doing. We did table a 2030 emissions reduction plan, which covers every economic sector across our country. It is a plan for how we can create healthier communities and what we can seize as opportunities for good-paying, sustainable jobs. It is about having clean air and a strong economy, and it is about fighting climate change, which is so important. When we look at what we have done, the scientific and economic imperative to reduce emissions is clear. We are going to work on that. We are doing that right now, and I want the member opposite to see that. We talk about transportation, and we are putting a sales mandate on zero-emission vehicles. It is about combustion, and we are working on that. We are also seeing investments in the manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles and battery manufacturers here. It is a combination of working on reducing combustion while creating jobs and investment here in our country. The 2030 ERP takes into account the reality that we need to set guideposts for each sector, and it highlights the measures and strategies towards the lower band of Canada's 2030 target of 40% to 45% below 2005 levels. Deepened collaboration and partnerships with all levels of government, indigenous people, industry, the financial sector and civil society, will enable further reductions and position Canada to achieve the upper band of the target. It includes investments and a suite of new measures to help mobilize Canada to a truly sustainable economy and to be a leading competitor in a global transition to cleaner industries and technologies. Those are technologies that we can export to help the world as well as it is going into its green transition. We are also developing Canada's first national adaptation strategy, which will establish a shared vision for climate resilience in Canada, identify key priorities for increased collaboration and establishing a framework for measured progress at the national level. This is another important piece that we can focus on. I agree with the member opposite that climate change is real, and it is important that we tackle it right now, which is exactly why we are doing that hard work. We are working across all sectors to get there, and we will do it.
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