44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2023 02:00PM
- Dec/13/23 2:40:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that climate change is a reality. We recognize that we need to help families and businesses across this country reduce their emissions and continue to prosper and grow in a world where the cost of inaction on climate change is increasingly exponentially.
That is why we have put in place programs to support farms, programs to support Canadians and, indeed, to get off home heating oil, for example, and transition to heat pumps. These are things that we are doing as part of our plan. The Conservatives have no plan.
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- Dec/13/23 2:42:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are there to support families, but multi-million-dollar farms that are successful will continue to be encouraged to look for ways to use their machinery and to heat their produce in ways that are lower emitting. That is what fighting climate change is all about. It is encouraging successful farms, like the Medeiros family farm, to continue to be successful but to do so in ways that reduce their emissions. We know it cannot ever be free to pollute again, despite what the Conservative Party wants.
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- Dec/13/23 2:44:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more than just about anyone else in this country, farmers understand how important it is to protect the land for future generations and to pass on the bounty to their children and grandchildren of a great, important job that feeds the rest of us. That is why farmers are so focused on the future, and that is why we are there to support them with a plan and investments that help them reduce their emissions while they continue to put food on all our tables. We have a plan for that. The Conservatives refuse to even admit that there needs to be work done to reduce emissions. That is not the way to build a future, not in Carleton and not anywhere—
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- Dec/13/23 2:45:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 97% of farm fuel emissions are exempt from the price on pollution. The average farm across this country pays a little less than $1,000 on natural gas emissions through the price on pollution. Therefore, one can only imagine how much natural gas this successful mushroom farm must be using for their cost of the price on pollution to be that large. We will happily work with the farmer to switch toward a lower-emitting approach to doing their business well and protecting future generations.
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- Dec/13/23 2:53:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has already addressed this issue and an investigation is under way.
When it comes to the environment, we are about to surpass the Harper government's 2030 target. The most recent greenhouse gas emissions forecasts show that Canada is on track to meet our government's 2030 climate target, a new, ambitious and achievable target. Our plan is working.
The Conservative Party leader's platform encourages emissions and benefits no one but large corporations that keep parroting the same slogans as him and that have been hurting us for decades.
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- Dec/13/23 2:58:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the average farm in Canada pays far less, around 1%, than what that very successful farm is paying. The reality is that 97% of farm fuel emissions are already exempt from the price on pollution. That is why we are continuing to move forward with programs and supports to encourage farms across the country, particularly very successful farms, to look at ways to reduce their emissions as they move forward into a net-zero future.
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- Dec/13/23 3:00:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government reached out and will continue to reach out to a range of farmers across the country who want to reduce their emissions, who are concerned about climate change, who want to preserve our land for future generations and who understand, unlike the MAGA Conservatives, that there is no choice anymore between protecting the environment and growing the economy.
While the Conservatives want to take us back to the Stone Age, we are going to continue to invest in supporting farms, supporting businesses and supporting Canadians, while we reduce our pollution, reduce our emissions and build a stronger future for everyone.
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- Dec/13/23 3:01:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when we took office eight years ago, Canada had no plan to reach even the Harper government's very modest environmental targets. We not only have surpassed the Harper targets but have put in place new ambitious targets that we are very much on track to meeting.
We have decreased our emissions over the past two years faster than any other G7 country, and we will continue to lead the way on demonstrating that we cannot have a plan for the future of the economy if we do not have a plan to fight climate change. That is what we are doing. That is what they are not.
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- Dec/13/23 3:02:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is wrong on the facts. Under the previous Conservative government, we actually reduced emissions while growing the economy. We did it through technology and not taxes.
By the way, I said earlier that Canada ranked 58th out of 64. There is a new publication of the ranking and Canada is now 62nd out of 67. In fact, we have fallen. The higher the tax, the worse the ranking.
Will the Prime Minister finally get rid of his tax plan and come up with an environment plan?
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- Dec/13/23 3:02:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are on track to surpass the Harper government's 2030 target and the latest emissions projections show Canada is on track to achieving our government's new, ambitious and achievable 2030 climate goal.
Our plan is working. We are seeing companies around the world invest in Canada. We were the third-largest country in terms of foreign direct investment in the world earlier this year because people are noticing Canada's leadership on fighting against climate change, but that party continues to vote against measures to support our farmers, measures to invest in a cleaner economy and measures to protect Canadians and their economy from the challenges of the future.
We will be there for Canadians.
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- Dec/13/23 3:25:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada demonstrated, yet again, its leadership on the world stage with ambitious leadership in putting a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector, recognizing that we do need to get to a net-zero economy. We need to support all our industries, including our energy industry, in moving towards that.
We will be there to support workers in the energy industry as we focus on decarbonization. We will be there to support businesses across this country as they shift to lower-emitting technologies. We understand the process it takes; we will accompany Canadians every step of the way, and we will get to net zero.
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- Dec/13/23 7:04:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question that was brought forward by my friend from Kitchener Centre.
If we are going to be talking about things like the greener homes grant, I think that, first of all, we should give a shout-out to how successful it has been and how wonderful it is that we have seen so many Canadians who are interested in this program. It has been a tremendous success, so it is good to see that as one part of what we are doing to reduce emissions from buildings.
It is not the only one and, as the member opposite mentioned, we also have the oil to heat pump program, which, in fact, just recently, was expanded. That is a really important program because it is going to help people, particularly people with lower incomes, to transition their form of energy away from oil, which is not only worse for the environment but is also much more expensive for them on a day-to-day basis and has more variables in its cost. They are able to then have, effectively, free heat pumps as part of this program, where provinces are actually working with us and setting up bilateral agreements.
I think we should also talk about some of the other programs that our government has worked on to help with reducing emissions from buildings. In fact, the built environment across our country is the third-largest source of emissions in our country. It is a really important piece to tackle. In my home city of Toronto, the largest source of emissions is, in fact, our buildings. It is a bit of a surprise sometimes when I say that.
We are working with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, FCM. It has a green municipal fund that is supporting municipalities to do retrofits to buildings. For example, in Toronto, there was a tower renewal project that was recently funded that is actually going to be helping the buildings of people with lower income, so that those buildings can be retrofitted. It helps with affordability for the people who live in those homes but it also is reducing emissions at the same time. It is a win-win.
There are other programs, as well, that have been funded through the FCM, to help people to get larger loans to make retrofits in Toronto. There was one of those programs through the FCM just recently.
We also have programs that have been helping people in cities to retrofit community centres and other buildings through our infrastructure department.
We can take many different steps at the same time. The built environment is very large and it is a large source of our emissions. I think it is important that we look at the totality of all of the programs that we are doing, because it is a commitment for us to take these actions.
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