44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 6, 2023 11:00AM
- Nov/6/23 2:23:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to have thoughtful public policy prescriptions that address issues around affordability in a long-term way, but that also address the issue of climate change. I would say the only person hiding in this chamber is the leader of the official opposition, who is hiding the fact that either he does not believe in climate change or he does not think it is very important. He has not spoken the words “climate change” since he was elected, and he has no plan. At some point he needs to tell Canadians what his plan is to address the climate crisis.
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- Nov/6/23 2:31:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it helpful to deal with the people who are closest to the problem. In Atlantic Canada, the Ecology Action Centre is based in Halifax, and it released a statement that I think is prescient to the debate going on here. It says:
Energy poverty and climate change represent a direct threat to working-class people in Nova Scotia. As a society, we must work together to ensure households with low incomes can transition away from expensive fossil fuels to technologies like heat pumps that are cheaper, better for our health and afford us the comforts associated with heating and cooling. Policy-makers are finally rising to meet the challenge.
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- Nov/6/23 2:34:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said last week, it would be great if, in the House, we could have debates about how we fight climate change, not whether we fight climate change, because in 2023 it is really not an option. It is an existential threat, and we are living in a climate emergency.
Canadians know how important it is to fight climate change, and they know that on this point, the Conservatives have absolutely no plan. When one does not have a plan for the environment, one does not have a plan for the economy. Conservatives continue to be risky and irresponsible, and they are certainly not worth that risk.
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- Nov/6/23 2:37:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what my hon. colleagues continue to forget is that this policy applies right across the country. Whether people are in the GTA, northern Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or anywhere else in this country, the price on pollution has been removed for those who use home heating oil.
It would be good if the Conservatives actually focused on the facts and allowed us to debate climate change and how we are going to fight it, not if climate change is real or not.
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- Nov/6/23 2:39:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a northern Liberal member of Parliament because I work everyday with constituents who are telling me that we need to take faster action on the climate. This is because we are losing acres of forest and seeing droughts, even in northern Ontario, which are making it harder to grow food and to grow our economy.
My constituents expect me to advocate for a clean environment, and that is exactly what I will do.
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- Nov/6/23 2:43:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party, as is often the case, is leaving out many important facts. Eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back in the rebate than they pay for the price on pollution. It is an important part of having a robust plan to address climate change in a thoughtful way. With respect to home heating, it is a particular issue that we can invest in to ensure we are saving money for people, as we move forward, while continuing to address climate change.
The Conservative Party is hiding. It is hiding from science. It is hiding from evidence. It needs to have a plan to fight climate change. Canadians expect more.
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- Nov/6/23 2:52:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we seem to be in a time machine. The Conservatives want to roll back fundamental rights and women's rights. They want to back down on banning assault weapons. They want to turn back the clock on the fight against climate change. They probably cannot even spell “climate change”. Simply put, they want to take us back to the Stone Age.
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- Nov/6/23 3:58:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, once again, I have another petition on the same subject. They keep coming into my office. This petition has to do with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Petitioners identify what is well known in terms of the impacts of climate change in Canada, including flooding, wildfires and extreme temperatures. They are quite aware of the Government of Canada's commitment to reducing global warming to 1.5°C. They specifically call on the Government of Canada to move forward immediately with bold emissions caps for the oil and gas sector that are comprehensive in scope and realistic in achieving the necessary targets Canada has set to reduce emissions by 2030.
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- Nov/6/23 7:12:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if the member for Battle River—Crowfoot thinks that defending the country from the perils of climate change is left-leaning ideology, then he sees the world through a different lens than I do.
Our government understands how important this issue is. Our government understands the impact that climate change is having in our country. We cannot turn on the news without watching the devastating impact it has had on every city, every rural community and every province in this country. Until everybody in the House acknowledges this and endorses that something has to be done about it, we are going to be having conversations that go around and around.
We are standing here on this side of the House defending Canadians. The measures that were taken last week are another example of that. Home heating oil is the most expensive source of heat in this country. As the member wants to talk about the cost of carbon pricing, I note that over 80% of the people in my province of Ontario benefit financially from the carbon pricing mechanism. If this new program were adopted by all the provinces, including his and my own, that number would go from 80% to a higher number. That is what we are striving to do.
I am asking my own premier in Ontario to get on board with the heat pump incentive program. It would help people in rural parts of Ontario and in some of the ridings the member just mentioned. Thunder Bay, where I was born, Sudbury and Timmins are the areas where making this transition can benefit Canadians so that the number goes from 80% to 90% to 100%.
If the Conservatives do not want to take this seriously, I do not know what else we can do. We have taken it seriously and we are going to continue to do that on this side of the House. We are going to keep pushing forward measures because we are standing for all Canadians on this issue, not just those in certain parts of the country as perhaps some other members are doing.
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