44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/7/23 4:33:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is so disheartening.
The fight against climate change is important. It is one of the major challenges of our time. Canada, as a G7 country, must deal with this problem.
The party on the right has no plan. It could not care less and is incapable of presenting any ideas that would suggest that it wants to fight this problem. Meanwhile, the party in government has a plan, but that plan is not working.
Canada is the worst country in the G20 when it comes to average greenhouse gas emissions. It is the worst country in the G20 and the only G7 country whose emissions have increased since 2015, since the Liberals took office.
The Liberals can bombard us with quotes about how green and sustainable they are and how they are doing business, but the Liberal plan is not working. The planet is burning, and Canada has no plan to deal with it.
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- Feb/7/23 5:08:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if everyone agrees, I will share my time with the member for Perth—Wellington
What we are hearing right now is rather frustrating and sad. It kind of makes a person want to bang their head against the wall or slit their wrists in despair. As I said earlier, there is a major worldwide crisis right now, the climate crisis. It is huge and it is important, and we talk about it every day.
Not long ago, the entire world met in Egypt to try to find solutions. According to what the UN chief told the entire globe, we need to do something and quickly. The situation is urgent. We need to take action. The major countries need to take action and make changes to the system so that we can change course. People are going to die. They are going to be forced into poverty. There are going to be natural disasters, floods and hurricanes, and they will happen more and more often. The UN chief is not the only one saying that. That is what is being said by thousands and thousands of scientists who write detailed reports that we can read. These things are most definitely going to happen.
We now know that, 50 years ago, scientists were already predicting what is happening today. We know because we are living it right now.
Canada is a G7 country. The party that is in government says it has a plan. Every day, during oral question period, the Liberals stand up and declare that they are going to do this and that. They talk about targets they are going to meet and they say that this or that is going to happen. However, that is not working.
The plan by my friends across the way has never worked. Earlier, I presented the numbers showing that nothing the Liberals have done is working. Canada is the worst per capita greenhouse gas emitter in the G20. Despite all the fine speeches, all the interventions, all the reports, all the scientists and studies in committee, Canada produces more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than any other G20 economy. Canada is the only G7 country whose emissions have increased since 2015.
What happened in 2015? Coincidentally, the Liberals came to power in 2015. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change is Mr. Équiterre, Mr. Environment. He is a star of the environmental left who told himself that he would make his stand in a G7 country, take action and effect change from the inside. However, the situation is only getting worse.
The Liberals constantly repeat that they are taking action, but they are not getting results. Today, my Conservative friends, who are not pleased with this action that is leading nowhere, have announced that they will do even less. They propose to get rid of it all, to do nothing and to never intervene.
I have never gotten a clear answer to a question that I have asked my Conservative friends many times: What will they do? This is not the first time that they have introduced such a motion. It is groundhog day with the Conservatives, who constantly propose cancelling the carbon tax. They always talk about the plan to triple, triple, triple the carbon tax. We cannot take it anymore, they have to stop.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Mr. Denis Trudel: Seriously, you keep repeating yourselves. This is not easy for us. It is hard on the brain. Hearing the same things over and over again will drive anyone a little crazy. We have been hearing members say “triple, triple, triple” for six months now. At some point, enough is enough.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Mr. Denis Trudel: This is not theatrical production, and I cannot respond to members who call out to me. In theory, this is a speech—
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- Feb/7/23 5:14:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, so, I was trying to engage in constructive dialogue with my Conservative friends. I was saying that, no matter how many opposition days we spend talking about getting rid of the carbon tax, we will never come up with anything resembling a solution.
Earlier, the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent, whom I like very much, was asked a question. What would the Conservatives do? What is their plan? We know they want to axe the carbon tax, but what would they do instead? This is a major emergency situation.
We all know this country switches back and forth between two governing parties. We spend 10 or 15 years with the red party, then 10 or 15 years with the blue party. Sooner or later, the blue party will be back in power. In the meantime, the orange party plays a supporting role over there. That is how the Canadian system works. Sooner or later, the blue party will be back in power with no plan, no idea what to do about the greatest crisis of our time.
As I said earlier, this is both sad and disheartening. It is enough to make anyone want to bash their head against a wall. No wonder people in Quebec want to leave this country. No wonder we have 32 seats here. The red party and the blue party would love to get their hands on our seats in Quebec, but they are not taking action.
They are not taking meaningful action on issues that are important to Quebeckers. A large majority of Quebeckers agree with me. People come to my office, people from organizations like Mothers Step In and La Planète s'invite in Longueuil. I meet young people and mothers in my riding who are worried about the future of humanity. They come to see me. They say we have to do something. They ask me to take action, to tell Parliament that we must take action. That is what I am doing. They have mandated me to do so. I am here to tell the so-called decision-makers in the government and the official opposition that they must take action. Something must be done. It is truly appalling that they have no plan to deal with the biggest challenge of our time.
The Bloc Québécois has solutions. We have asked the government what needs to be done. First, Canada needs to stop investing in fossil fuels. That is absolutely essential. My Conservative friends are always saying that we need to invest in fossil fuels. It is unbelievable that the Liberals outdo even the Conservatives when it comes to supporting oil companies. I am not joking. The Liberals are so useless that there are environmentalists out there who miss the Conservatives. We are talking about an annual investment of $8.5 billion in fossil fuels.
How much social housing could be built for $8.5 billion? How much housing could be built to help people who need it? There is a major housing crisis in Quebec and in Canada. I do not know how many times I have talked about this in the House.
The Liberals promised they would stop investing in fossil fuels in 2023. I remember asking them about that on December 11. I brought up their promise that investments would drop to zero in 2023, which was 20 days away at that point. It was time to start thinking about it. Now it is 2023, and I have heard nothing about stopping investments. This is one of the first measures that must be implemented. This money must be invested in renewable energy. We need to make a radical shift. Quebec is ready to do that. We have Hydro-Québec. When the company is not being spied on by China, it makes very good electric batteries. They are working on electric motors. We need to put our money there.
What could we do if we put the $8.5 billion we send to ExxonMobil into other things? That company made $75 billion in profits last year. Those poor people. Seriously though, we must take this money and invest it in the energies of the future. That is what we need to do.
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- Feb/7/23 5:20:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the carbon tax is a very good measure. However, it needs to be increased far more drastically than it has been so far.
I think the UN was recommending that the tax be set at $200 per tonne now. Based on what we are hearing, it will be about $170 per tonne in 2030. That is much too late. It is two minutes past midnight right now. It is no longer one minute to midnight. We must do something drastic.
My colleague's intervention makes me think of what my Conservative colleagues have been saying all day. They want to have it both ways. We have passed that point. It is after midnight.
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- Feb/7/23 5:21:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree. I mentioned it in my speech. As I am not an expert, I cannot say how much we should tax those companies. We can see their profits are indecent.
Those industries are still making bloated profits from what is happening in the world at this time. We must take this money and invest it for our children. The future of the planet is at stake. There is money there. It is indecent. We must invest it for the future.
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- Feb/7/23 5:23:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is not really my area of expertise, but I do know that the Bloc Québécois proposed a transitional period for oil industry workers.
What we are saying is that, one way or another, fossil fuel production will have to cease. However, we know the industry creates a lot of jobs, and we know that matters. These are moms and dads who work in an industry, who have jobs, kids, hobbies, a house and bills to pay, just like everyone else.
We are concerned about this, and we are ready to sit down for some level-headed negotiations to figure out how to make this transition, which needs to happen now, as painless as possible for these people.
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