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House Hansard - 150

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23
Mr. Kevin Vuong (Spadina—Fort York, Ind.)
  • Jan/31/23 5:50:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are going through tough financial times. We see higher interest rates, inflation, high food costs and soaring housing prices. This all leads to a very shaky and uncertain future for many Canadians. On top of this, the government is proceeding with a series of taxes on fuel at a time when many households are just trying to heat their homes. If the clean fuel standard led to just a $30 monthly increase for Canadians, what harm would it cause? The answer is, plenty. According to the Daily Bread Food Bank, “A $30 per month increase in rent would lead to 73,776 more visits to food banks annually in Toronto and 375,512 more visits across Ontario.” That 375,512 is equivalent to everyone in Spadina—Fort York, my riding, and two other ridings of my Toronto colleagues, the parliamentary secretary's colleagues. How disconnected from the economic realities of Canadians is the federal government? The clean fuel standard adds $1,277 annually to energy costs. It also does not stop at creating higher prices for gasoline, diesel or home heating fuel. It is added at every component in production processes. For example, it is added to the cost of nitrogen that is purchased by farmers to grow food we all eat, to trucks transporting food to the grocery store, and to the selling of food to consumers. Even if people do not drive, they still eat, and the clean fuel standard will drive up those costs. These associated costs contribute to higher prices at the grocery store but also to inflation, and everyone is struggling with inflation. On the one hand, we have the Bank of Canada trying to wrestle inflation to the ground by raising interest rates, and on the other hand we have the government trying to pile-drive Canadians into the ground by raising taxes. What a tag team of indifference to economic hardships that abound. The government has refused my request to delay implementing the clean fuel standard until the Canadian economy no longer faces a looming recession, to a time when Canadians have some breathing room and the government has found realistic answers on how to get the country back on some semblance of sound financial footing. Moreover, to add insult to growing food bank visits, the lack of environmental benefit from the clean fuel standard is appalling. The only thing that is being cleaned is what little money is left in the pocketbooks of Canadians. In light of the fact that the clean fuel standard would actually increase net emissions, what environmental catastrophe would occur if we delayed the implementation of the clean fuel standard by six months? Is this just another way for the government to pay for its wanton overspending off the backs of Canadians?
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Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23
Mr. Terry Duguid (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)
  • Jan/31/23 5:54:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be presenting a starkly different view from that of the hon. member. The clean fuel regulations, CFR, are critical to meeting Canada's 2030 climate targets and laying the foundation for a net-zero economy in 2050. The CFR will deliver up to 26 megatonnes of GHG emission reductions in 2030. This is a significant contribution to Canada's climate change goals, equal to removing about two weeks of annual greenhouse gas emissions from the entire Canadian economy. The CFR will do more than reduce emissions. The regulations have been designed to work in conjunction with the Government of Canada's $1.5-billion clean fuels fund. Together, these measures will drive innovation and send a clear market signal for investors and industry to bring more clean technologies and low-carbon fuels, such as biofuels and hydrogen, to market to help decarbonize the economy. The refinery in Come By Chance, Newfoundland, has recently been retrofitted by Braya Renewable Fuels to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. This is an example of the type of new investments in Canada's transition to a net-zero economy supported by the CFR. The CFR will reduce emissions across the life cycle of fossil fuels, similar to the approaches that already exist in British Columbia, California and Oregon. These jurisdictions have benefited enormously from the expansion of clean technology industries as a result of these regulations. Working in tandem with carbon pricing, the clean fuel regulations will also help diversify energy choices and promote faster adoption of zero-emission vehicles by incentivizing the deployment of vehicle-charging infrastructure.
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