44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/7/23 10:32:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask a question about the price on pollution. We agree that the challenges facing Canadians right now are significant. You have well explained the increases in fuel prices over the last few months. However, there has been no increase in the price on pollution in that period. You are continually blaming it on the price on pollution, which is actually giving back more to most people than we are levying. Could you explain why these prices have been going up over the last few months, even though there has been no increase in the price on pollution, and why you continue—
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- Feb/7/23 10:50:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can reassure my hon. colleague that I do not supposedly come from the environmental sector. I am from the environmental sector. I have the arrest record to prove it.
We have put in place a number of measures to tackle the emissions of the oil and gas sector. In fact, our emissions reduction plan presented last March is the first time in the history of this country when we have set a trajectory for emissions reduction for the oil and gas sector. We are working on a number of different elements of regulations to tackle the emissions of the oil and gas sector.
We eliminated international fossil fuel subsidies just before Christmas, and we are working with the party of the member opposite on eliminating those subsidies in Canada in the first half of this year. We will be doing this two years earlier than all of our G20 partners who have committed to eliminating those fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.
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- Feb/7/23 12:47:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as another Atlantic Canadian, I would like to ask the member about the carbon tax and the idea that government keeps raising taxes. People cannot afford the tax burden. Down east we have so many people who use home heating fuels to heat their home, prices are going up, and the government's solution is to try to catch that up with another government program. We have countless programs and rising prices.
Our amendment is to scrap the carbon tax, bring down fuel prices, energy prices, particularly in the winter, and turn to technology. I hope the government will consider this and move in that direction, instead of making prices more expensive, which is what the government has been doing for eight long years now.
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- Feb/7/23 3:32:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the compliment from the member for Kitchener Centre.
We do have the luxury of being able to voice our individual opinions on this side of the House, so in my personal opinion, I do not support subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. I do not think it is a thing that governments throughout Canada or developed countries throughout the world should be participating in. There is more than enough profit to go around in the fossil fuel industry, and I personally do not support it. I exercised that belief through the vote the member referenced, but I also respect the fact that other people have different opinions on this. I will continue, both internally and externally, to voice my opinions and my concerns on various issues.
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- Feb/7/23 5:20:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, at a time when the planet has to reduce its carbon emissions, oil companies are making record profits. Canadian oil and gas companies are forecasted to make a record-breaking $147 billion in 2022 alone.
I want to read a short quote from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He said the fossil fuel industry is “feasting on...subsidies and windfall profits while households' budgets shrink and our planet burns.” He said that we need to hold the industry and its enablers to account. He said, “I am calling on all developed economies to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies.”
New Democrats believe we should be doing that. I wonder if my hon. colleague agrees.
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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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