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Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party

Laurel Collins

  • Member of Parliament
  • Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party
  • NDP
  • Victoria
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 61%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $127,392.53

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 172 - Mar/23/23
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • Mar/23/23 7:14:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are at a critical moment. This week, the IPCC issued a final report, a final warning. It says, in no uncertain terms, that we must act now or it will be too late. One of the report's authors noted, “The message in terms of urgency...is stop burning fossil fuels as fast as humanly possible.” They explain that we are at a crisis point, not because we are lacking some important technology or some important information but because “the sense of urgency has been lacking in the places where the important decisions are made”. In Canada, that place where important decisions are made is here, in the House of Commons. The government lacks the urgency. It lacks the commitment and it lacks the courage to take the action we need. The Liberals say they are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, yet they continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry. They are handing over billions of dollars to rich oil and gas executives. I continue to call on the government to end subsidies to oil and gas, and instead invest those billions into clean energy, into climate solutions. In the United States, the Biden administration has committed to spending $60 billion on clean energy manufacturing. This goes directly into building solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. These are proven solutions. Climate scientists agree that renewable energies are the best tools we have for reducing our emissions, yet the Liberals are instead giving massive tax breaks to oil and gas companies for unproven technologies that keep the fantasy of increasing oil and gas production alive. The reality is that the current carbon capture projects in Canada capture only less than 1% of our emissions. The Liberals say that carbon capture technology is one of the many solutions they will use when it comes to fighting the climate crisis, but it happens to be the oil and gas industry's favourite solution. The Liberals' friends at McKinsey have published multiple articles touting CCS as a low-risk piece of the decarbonization puzzle, but according to the IPCC, carbon capture is one of the most expensive and least effective tools. In fact, the report names wind and solar energy as the most effective solutions for reducing our emissions. If we want to meet our 2030 targets, there is a logical way forward: invest our tax dollars in renewable energy and make the oil and gas industry pay for its own carbon capture and storage. Experts are already warning that the Liberals' tax credit on carbon capture and storage will be a fossil fuel subsidy, more handouts to an industry making record-breaking profits. In a report on fossil fuel subsidies, Canada and Saudi Arabia were named the worst performers, handing out the most money to these companies as they make more profit than they have ever made before. We have now learned that Saudi Arabia lobbied to elevate the role of carbon removal in the latest UN climate science summary report. We also know that Canada lobbied to emphasize the importance of carbon capture in the last IPCC summary report, which begs the question, why is the Liberal government acting like a petrostate when Canada has a diversified economy? Why are the Liberals doing the oil and gas lobby's dirty work? Why are they making Canadians pay billions to clean up the oil and gas industry's emissions?
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Context: House Hansard - 49 - Mar/30/22
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • Mar/30/22 2:48:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the climate crisis is putting everything we value at risk, yet the Liberals' emissions reduction plan clearly does not meet the urgency of the crisis, with inadequate ambition and massive subsidies to unproven carbon capture technology. The government continues to put the interests of big oil and gas above protecting the workers who are impacted by the climate crisis. Climate delay will not cut it. We must act now. With the upcoming budget, will the Liberals finally take the climate crisis seriously?
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