44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 19, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, in one word, wow. At the end of the day, it is becoming very clear that the Conservative Party does not give a darn about green jobs. The Conservatives do not recognize that there is value to green jobs. The Conservatives are prepared to write off Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it when it comes to good-quality green jobs.
This bill is all about ensuring there is a council that can provide that five-year report on how we can transition and generate additional jobs. Let us think about the battery jobs from Volkswagen and other types of jobs. This is about tomorrow.
Why do the Conservatives want to close their eyes or bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich? It does not make any sense. What do you have against good, clean middle-class jobs?
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- Oct/19/23 1:34:18 p.m.
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I want to remind the hon. parliamentary secretary to address questions and comments through the Chair.
The hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to address the member's question, because here is the reality. The only party in the country that supports clean, green sustainable jobs is the Conservative Party of Canada. We believe in an economy that allows for the prosperity of all industries. Whether that is mining in northern Ontario; or oil and gas in Alberta and across the Prairies; or tidal energy, which the Liberals have ensured is not affordable in the Maritimes; there is one party in our country that truly wants to see prosperity for all, lower emissions and a future that works for Canadians, and it is the Conservative Party.
Therefore, when that member spouts off the same tired talking points that have been tearing our country apart, he can be held accountable, as the Liberals not only fail on the environment but they fail on the economy, and Canadians are getting sick and tired of it.
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Madam Speaker, I commend the intensity of my colleague's speech, but I have concerns for his health. He should not get so worked up. It is not good for him. I want him to take care of himself.
I understand that he is passionate about oil. I have no problem with that. I would just like to point out to him that if, in the future, we want to join the global trend of reducing our carbon footprint, then we will have to make painful choices.
The government has promised a generous $83 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas sector until 2034-35. That should give it some incentive to meet the government halfway. I do not agree with this, but that is how it is. I am trying to get them on the same page. I want my colleague to sleep well tonight. I want him to breathe deeply and feel good.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's concern for my health, but I can assure him that I, and so many Canadians, will sleep better when that Prime Minister and his coalition partners are drummed out of office. Then we will see a Canada that actually prospers again, whether that is in Quebec and the many industries that benefit from investment, all types of energy.
Why does the member not go and speak to the manufacturers? Some of their largest customers in probably his riding come from my province. The disconnect that exists from the ideology that is purported and supported by every other political party in the House and the reality that exists on the ground in Canada is so unbelievable.
The future is built on a clean economy, absolutely. How do we ensure that? We allow investment, prosperity and the ingenuity of Canadians to ensure that happens. The Conservatives are the only party that offers that.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is speaking like there is this big bad solar-powered windmill-shaped bogeyman that is going to land in Alberta and wipe out all these really important jobs. That is actually not the case.
In fact, a study by Calgary Economic Development estimates that Alberta could see $61 billion pumped into its economy through clean tech investments. Studies also show that Alberta gains almost 100,000 clean tech jobs.
Why do the Conservatives continue to be unrelenting in their defence of oil and gas, and their clear disdain for anything that would mitigate the effects of climate change and that it would steal these economic opportunities away from Alberta workers and their families?
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Madam Speaker, the only thing being stolen from our country is the prosperity that should be given to Canadians. It is that member's disconnect with reality that is on full display here.
I can see windmills from my house. I drive by solar farms on a regular basis. For that member to somehow think that we have to pick one or the other shows an absolute disconnect with the reality of how we solve what is a developing global energy crisis.
Let us build in our country. Let us ensure there is clean tech. Let us ensure that when it comes to traditional energy, we continue to move toward that lower emissions path. Let us ensure that it is Canadians who lead the way as opposed to being held back like they are under that coalition.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising today to express my serious concerns about Bill C-50. This bill is called the sustainable jobs act, which is typical of what Liberals do. They pick a name that sounds good. Who does not like sustainable jobs? I like sustainable jobs. I think all Canadians want sustainable jobs. It sounds really good, but the problem is that in this bill there is no plan to create sustainable jobs. This is a plan to get a plan.
The bill outlines how the Liberals are going to put together a council. Based on past behaviour, I suggest that it would be highly paid Liberal insiders who will get these jobs and advise on what the plan ought to be. As to the timeline of when they are going to come up with what the plan ought to be, it be should by 2025, coincidentally just after the next election.
The Liberals do not have a plan. Nothing says there is no plan like a bill that is introduced to get a plan. That is the first thing.
The second thing is the Liberals have another role, a secretariat, that is going to do some coordination, with another highly paid Liberal insider when they get the plan. The problem is that is it; that is all. It is a plan to get a plan, with some principles that are motherhood and apple pie and that we would all agree on, such as well-paying jobs, caring about the environment and the need to respect labour, all of these good things. They are all motherhood and apple pie, but the bill does not have a specific action that is going to help.
On the other hand, it is going to hurt. The analysts of the government have said that Bill C-50 would kill 170,000 direct Canadian jobs, would displace 450,000 workers directly and indirectly working in the energy sector and would risk the livelihoods of 2.7 million Canadians across all provinces. The bill would destroy as many as 2.7 million jobs when there is not a single action in it to create any sustainable jobs at all. That is a problem.
The other thing is that it is going to cost a lot of money. Right now the energy sector provides 10% of Canada's GDP and pays over $20 billion in taxes to all levels of government every year. Last year, $48 billion in royalties and taxes were contributed by the energy sector. This bill purports to get rid of that by eliminating the sector.
We can look at other places in the world that have come up with a sustainable jobs plan and are starting to implement it, Scotland being one example. If we took the cost per person of its plan and did the equivalent thing here, it would cost $37.2 billion. The Liberals are taking away as much as $48 billion and adding a cost of another $37 billion. If we do the math, they are increasing by greater than $70 billion the loss to the Canadian economy.
I do not know why the Liberal government cannot learn the lesson when countless people can, like former Liberal John Manley, who said that when it runs these huge deficits, it is putting a foot on the inflationary gas pedal, which is causing the Bank of Canada to put its foot on the brake with higher interest rates. This raises the cost of mortgages. Canadians are suffering from coast to coast, so definitely not only is the bill not going to create jobs, but it will come with a huge cost.
It is not like this is the first time there has been an attack on oil and gas and the energy sector. This has been a continual theme from the time I got elected in 2015. Let us start with the tanker ban, Bill C-48, to keep Canadian oil from getting out there when everybody else's ships are out there full of oil. Then we had Bill C-55, which created marine protected areas so we could do no oil and gas development there. Then there was Bill C-69, the “no more pipelines” bill, which was just called unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. All of these things were intended to be a war against creating oil and gas projects.
There is evidence. When the Liberals took power, there were 18 LNG projects on the books and there were four pipelines. Zero pipelines have been built and all the LNG projects but one are cancelled. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our friends in Germany were going to give us $59 billion to replace their Russian oil and coal with our green LNG. The Prime Minister said there was no business case, so Australia took that deal.
Then Japan came up with a similar deal and again we would not take the deal, so Saudi Arabia took it. Then came France and the Netherlands. There were all these opportunities for Canada to be a leader, supplanting higher-carbon fuels with our green LNG, the most responsibly produced product in the world with the best human rights record, but again the Liberal government refused. Instead, it is focused on its own ideology and things that it wants to do that continue to destroy the economy.
We can talk about the electric vehicle mandates. That was another great idea. Let us give away $31 billion to create 3,000 jobs. For those who can do the math, if we just gave each of those 3,000 people $10 million, they would never have to work again and there would not be any footprint. There is a total misunderstanding of how to create a growing economy.
Then there is the clean electricity standard, another hugely divisive bill that was introduced by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, clearly not understanding that where the Liberals want to go with all the electric vehicles, electricity and the grid would require building the equivalent of 19 nuclear facilities, like the one from Bruce Power. They cannot build anything, so I do not know where they get the idea that they are going to be successful in achieving that.
At the same time, they are ignoring the fact that only 7% of the public even wants an electric vehicle because the technology is not there. No one wants to be trapped in a snowstorm at -30°C because the batteries do not work. They catch fire. In addition to that, they do not have a very long range. Instead, the government decided to pick a winner and loser with the battery plants that are being built.
Now Toyota has come out with a solid-state battery, with a 1,275-kilometre range, that works at -20°C and does not catch fire. That will make our technology obsolete, with $31 billion after the fact. Maybe the Liberal government needs a few more engineers so that it can actually make science-, fact- and data-based decisions, but that is not what is happening today.
The Liberals continue to move ahead with the carbon tax and the second carbon tax, putting punishment on the backs of Canadians and achieving nothing. Emissions have gone up under the government. At the 2005 level, we were at 732 megatonnes. We needed to get to 519 and now we are at 819. They are not achieving their targets and keep putting bills like this in place, talking about sustainability, the environment and creating jobs. They are not actually achieving that.
Sarnia—Lambton has a huge oil and gas sector, but it knows how to do a transition and is doing a transition. It is creating good-paying, sustainable jobs like the ones at Origin Materials, a net-zero plastics plant in my riding. My riding has one of the largest solar facilities in North America. There is a whole bio-innovation centre that is growing different kinds of bio-facilities that are all either carbon sinks or carbon-neutral. These are the kinds of actual solutions and actions we need. That is not what is in Bill C-50. It is a plan to get a plan with nothing else. For that reason, I will not be supporting Bill C-50.
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Madam Speaker, talk about reckless. Let me give a good example. The member is criticizing investments we have made in electric vehicles, and she is happy to do so. The Government of Canada entered into an agreement with Volkswagen, creating thousands of jobs, directly and indirectly. Industries will grow as a direct result. VW is investing billions of dollars, and the member is saying that VW does not know what it is doing, apparently, and the jobs that are being created in St. Thomas and the surrounding areas are just not worth it because the reckless Conservative Party believes that electric vehicles are not a thing of the future. How ridiculous is that?
Can the member tell the people of St. Thomas whether the Conservative Party supports the VW plant, which is going to be the largest plant in Canada? Some 200 football fields could fit into it.
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Madam Speaker, that is a great question. I think what the people of St. Thomas would appreciate, instead of giving $31 billion between two plants for 3,000 jobs, is if the Liberals just gave each person $10 million so they never had to work again. They would probably be pretty happy about that, but that is not really the way to grow the Canadian economy.
Conservatives have plans to actually unleash the innovation, technology and natural resources of Canada to grow the economy. Think about those 18 LNG plants and the number of jobs we could have had there. Think about the nuclear facilities we could be building and transporting around the world. That is where the jobs are.
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives are still accusing the government of inflationary spending, so I have a quick question for my colleague. According to the IMF, Canada invested $50 billion in the oil industry in 2022. I would note that the oil industry made $200 billion in profit in 2022.
Does my colleague think that that expenditure counts as inflationary spending?
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Madam Speaker, the reality is that when we invest in a business and the business generates more royalty and tax revenue for the government to support all of the social programs we want, that is an investment; it is not inflationary spending. When we spend money and it does not create a result, that is inflationary spending.
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Madam Speaker, I always get a great kick out of listening to Conservatives talking about the environment and the economy. It is like looking in a distorted funhouse mirror: We are not even sure if they know what side of the world is up. However, the member says that her numbers are from Danielle Smith, so that pretty much sums it up.
There are nine million direct jobs in the United States in clean tech right now. Speaking of Danielle Smith, last December, Alberta was the gold rush capital of the world for clean energy tech. Just this past July, some were talking about how Alberta was out in front, and then Danielle Smith killed it. If we talk to any international investor about money in Canada, we hear that not a dime will go to Alberta now because of Albertan and Conservative ideology against clean tech.
As for LNG, the member has not a clue what she is talking about. We met with the German Chancellor. He said they are not interested in LNG. They wanted to know if we could provide hydrogen, but hydrogen is something that Conservatives are against, just as they are against the battery plant investments and just as they are against clean tech. They claim they are going to somehow find “technology”, but this technology will help them run their oil and gas industry into the ground.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to enlighten the member opposite, because clearly he is unaware that in Sarnia—Lambton, a green hydrogen hub is being created. We are supportive of that.
I wonder why he is not standing up for the residents in the north, who are not getting mining jobs because of project approvals and things that his party supported, and why he is trying to shut down jobs in Canada. He is supposed to be in a party of the working people, but the NDP has abandoned the working people in this country. The Conservatives have their backs and will ensure that their jobs are protected as we transition to a cleaner future.
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- Oct/19/23 1:53:03 p.m.
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There seem to be some discussions going on in the House while others are trying to participate in the debate. I would just ask individuals to take those outside. I would also ask members to be mindful of the words they use within the House as well, to make sure they are respectful.
Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Labrador.
I am delighted to be standing here today to discuss Bill C-50, a bill that would help ensure Canada's workers are equipped with the skills and training they need to help our country seize the economic opportunities ahead of it. The fact is that as the world advances toward a net-zero future, we need to skate where the puck is going. I will give members a good example from my riding.
The Government of Canada invested to help Algoma Steel, the second-largest steel producer in Canada, bring its operations into the next era by phasing out its thermal coal furnaces and putting electric arc furnaces in their place. This means more clean air in my community. It is the equivalent of taking nearly one million gas-powered cars off the road. It is amazing. It means a healthier workplace for our steelworkers as well.
Like the sustainable jobs act, this investment was about creating new, well-paying jobs that benefit our economy. People in the community have started calling this investment “generational”. I have talked to steelworkers, and they know that if their grandkids choose to work in the steel industry in Sault Ste. Marie in the district of Algoma, because of this investment, they can do so.
There are industrial facilities like Algoma Steel in many parts of our country, from material to energy to manufacturing. Investors want to power their plants with clean energy, while minimizing emissions and maximizing their high-quality material production.
Members should not just take it from me: The president of the Business Council of Alberta said, “The Sustainable Jobs Act represents an important opportunity for Canada: to shape our future and create jobs by providing the resources that the world needs—including energy, food, and minerals.” Clearly, it is imperative that we advance technology and skills to get good projects built, while fighting climate change.
On the investment and research side, we are working hard to make sure that Canada is at the front of this global race for clean technologies. The Government of Canada is approaching this thoughtfully, through measures such as our hydrogen strategy, a clean electricity vision paper and our recently released carbon management strategy, which will help us secure sustainable jobs in such sectors as cement and steelmaking.
As we work to become leaders in the clean technology sector, we also need to make sure that our people are equipped to lead. Within the Canadian sustainable jobs act, the government would create a future where the Canadian workforce can thrive as it meets the world's growing demand for low-carbon energy, resources and solutions. It is a future where the challenge would not be finding good, well-paying jobs. Instead, the challenge would be keeping up with the demand for skills development and training programs to help Canadians fill them.
Bill C-50 provides an important opportunity to create a legal framework for action that fosters the creation of sustainable jobs for workers and economic prosperity across Canada. This legislation already reflects the feedback we have received from workers, labour organizations, experts, indigenous peoples, provinces and territories, and many other stakeholders.
This legislation would help us do two things. These things are not negotiable if we want workers to succeed in a low-carbon economy.
The first thing it would do is put Canada's workers first. To put it simply, as the government invests in the growth of our energy sector and other low-carbon industries, this legislation obliges the government to bring Canada's accomplished and motivated workers along with us. We are starting this dream together in a good place.
Workers in the conventional energy sector are already well-positioned to succeed in growing clean technology industries such as hydrogen. This is based on a recent state-of-the-industry report from Enserva, which found the following:
...people involved in energy development will be at a huge advantage in terms of jobs and skills as the underlying technical skills required to extract, develop, produce, process and export oil and gas are transferable to different forms of energy, such as wind, solar, biomass and LNG.
While this gives Canadian energy workers a reason to be optimistic, we still need the legislation to ensure that the government has a plan to provide them, their families and their communities with the related supports they need.
The second thing this legislation would allow us to do is to assure existing and potential investors that our workforce is fully up to supporting emerging low-carbon projects and priorities. We must continue to motivate investors to back the businesses that will grow tomorrow's low-carbon economy, while investing public funds into a wide array of sectors and projects.
The latest federal budget alone included $86 billion in new incentives to accelerate the growth of our clean energy sector, with new or enhanced investments and tax credits toward generating clean electricity and hydrogen, manufacturing and adopting clean technologies and advancing the viability of carbon management. This investment stands to help workers in very real ways, since the highest investment tax credits are reserved for the companies that offer the most competitive compensation packages. It is a win for investors, for Canadian workers and for communities.
The legislation has been informed by many things. In 2021 the government released a discussion paper on sustainable jobs, and we invited all Canadians to have their say on it. This led to 18 months of public consultations, highlighted by 17 round tables with a range of stakeholders and partners, including workers themselves. We also received tens of thousands—
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- Oct/19/23 2:00:05 p.m.
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The hon. member will be able to continue the next time this matter is before the House.
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- Oct/19/23 2:00:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is important we recognize that Canada's diversity is one of our greatest strengths. I reflect back to June, when we celebrated many different events of Canada's Filipino Canadian heritage.
Now we fast-forward to November. On November 12, we are going to be celebrating Diwali. Diwali is celebrated from coast to coast to coast, as Canada's Indo-Canadian community will lead the way. Diwali is a celebration of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. This is a part of Canadian heritage. We should all be very proud of Canada's diversity. For those who are going to be celebrating Diwali on November 12, I wish each and every one of them a very happy Diwali.
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- Oct/19/23 2:01:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on October 10, Prince Edward Island, and indeed all of Canada, lost a distinguished citizen and public servant: the Hon. Jim Lee, who served as premier in Prince Edward Island from 1981 to 1986.
He accomplished many things during his time, including playing an instrumental role in the establishment of the veterinary school at the University of Prince Edward Island. He was also instrumental in the construction of the Prince Edward Island Convention Centre, the amalgamation of the Charlottetown and P.E.I. hospitals and the construction of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
During his time as premier, he was the P.E.I. signatory on both the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was said by his son that his father “never put a lot of energy into taking credit for the things he helped P.E.I. achieve.” He was an Islander who fought for the lovely island he called home and the people he represented.
On behalf of Canada's Conservatives and His Majesty's loyal opposition, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. I thank Premier Lee for making both Prince Edward Island and Canada a better place.
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Madam Speaker, over the past few months, as I knocked on doors in my riding of Brampton East, I have had many conversations about public safety. All levels of government have a role to play in keeping our communities safe, and here in Parliament, we are working together to further strengthen our Criminal Code.
After consultations with all 13 premiers and police chiefs across Canada, our government has brought forward a bail reform bill, Bill C-48, which would help keep repeat violent offenders behind bars.
I have had numerous discussions with the police chief, the mayor and colleagues across all levels of government, and I am happy to see this bill being supported by colleagues in this very chamber.
That is not all. We have helped combat guns and gangs, providing $120 million to the Province of Ontario; strengthened border security, with over $500 million to CBSA, which will help prevent contraband coming into this country; and instituted a national freeze on handguns, which means that handguns can no longer be transferred, purchased or imported into Canada.
I remain focused on working with all levels of government to ensure families can live and prosper in a safe environment.
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