SoVote

Mr. Patrick Weiler (West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 4:35:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour again to join the debate in the House on the price on pollution. By my count, this is the 13th time Conservatives have brought forward some sort of motion on eliminating carbon pricing since the MP for Carleton became their leader, but it could very well be more than that. I have heard today that it is the 19th time some permutation of this motion has been brought forward. It is ironic, because Conservatives ran in the last election on bringing in carbon pricing. It did not make a lot of sense, but at least it was something. In fact, it was not the only time they ran on bringing in a carbon price. Under Stephen Harper in 2008, they ran on, get this, the green plan, but then, just like now, they flip-flopped. Now they say they want to cut it, and they are masquerading the motion as some measure in support of affordability in Canada, as if carbon pricing were the reason the cost of living challenges in Canada right now are significant. However, the Bank of Canada has recently confirmed that the price on pollution is responsible for only one-sixth of 1% of the inflation we are seeing. Contrary to the rhetoric we hear from Conservatives, when we look at the facts, economist have shown that the price on pollution is responsible for less than 1% of the increase we are seeing in food prices. Not only that, when Conservatives talk about the carbon price, they refuse to mention the rebates that are returned to individuals through the—

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Patrick Weiler

Dec/7/23 4:38:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, a recent study has been brought up today in the debate by a well-respected University of Calgary economist, Trevor Tombe. Utilizing Statistics Canada data has shown that when considering both the direct and the indirect cost of the price on pollution, 94% of households with incomes below $50,000 receive rebates that exceed the carbon tax cost. Most of them see a net benefit of $20 to $40 a month, while 4% of them actually see a net gain of $70 per month. Even 55% of households with incomes above $250,000 a year receive more in rebates than they pay in the price on pollution. Therefore, getting rid of the price on pollution would disproportionally benefit the ultrarich, and eliminating it would not only undermine a policy that is responsible for, according to the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development, one-third of our carbon emissions reductions; it would also be a true reverse Robin Hood, which would steal from the poor to give to the rich, and that is not in the Christmas spirit. What is actually boosting the price of fossil fuels in Canada? It is important to look at the facts. Since 2020, the carbon price on heating oil has increased by only 12¢ a litre, while the average price for heating oil is now 75¢ higher. What is driving up the other 63¢, or what is five times more responsible for the increase in cost? Canadians are overwhelmingly feeling the impacts of geopolitics, and fossil fuel inflation is caused by a rise in the global price of oil and gas. This includes the illegal and unjustified Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the global disruption that has caused to the energy market. It is sad that the leader of the Conservative Party says nothing about this. He is quiet on support for Ukraine and has in fact abandoned it in its time of need by voting against updating a free trade agreement with Ukraine, which President Zelenskyy specifically asked for. As well, since Ukraine is one of the world's breadbaskets, we need to do everything we can to support it to win the war and end the disruption it has had on global food prices. What else has caused fossil fuel prices to increase? It is the measure that OPEC is taking to squeeze the supply of oil. While the Conservatives will rail against so-called dictator oil as a reason why we should massively increase emissions in Canada, Canada imported double the amount of foreign oil when the Conservatives were last in power. What happens when the global price of oil and gas rises? Of course, the oil and gas industry benefits. The oil and gas industry in Canada is making record profits by gobbling up the extra 63¢ a litre at the expense of Canadians. Since 2022, the oil and gas sector in Canada has had a $30-billion increase in profits, or a 1,000% increase since 2019. Where are these profits going? There has been $29 billion returned to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Where are these shareholders? Overwhelmingly, they are not even in Canada. Do we ever hear the Conservatives talk about this? Of course not. They would rather peddle alternative facts that would make even Donald Trump blush, with their factory discourse on the price on pollution. It is bad enough that the Conservative MPs from where the federal system applies rail on these baseless claims, but many of the Conservative MPs from my province of British Columbia are making the claim as well. The hypocrisy is no more evident than with the member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, who was part of the B.C. Liberal government that brought in the carbon tax in British Columbia. In 2017, he said in the B.C. legislature: ...our government made the decision to implement a tax on carbon.... Our carbon tax appears to be working. Independent studies have found that between 2008 and 2012, fuel use in B.C. dropped by 16 percent per capita. In 2015, a review of seven independent studies suggested that B.C.'s carbon tax has reduced emissions in the province by up to 15 percent.... We view this tax as a tool to change behaviour and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, what the member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge said in 2017 is the truth. A price on pollution is one-third of the reason Canada has reduced emissions by more than any other G7 country since 2019. However, not only is the argument they make on carbon pricing factually incorrect; Conservatives will say that we have not met a climate target, which is disingenuous, because our targets have always been for 2030 and 2050, and we are making major progress in getting there. Today's update of our emissions reduction plan shows that we are on track to meet our emissions objective for 2026 and also on track to meet our 2030 targets to reduce emissions by at least 40%. Just this week, we have built on our progress to date by announcing two new measures, draft regulations that would reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by 75% by 2030, and, as announced just today, a groundbreaking framework that would cap and reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector and have them steadily reduce over time to ensure we meet our emissions reduction goal. We know what the saying is: If someone repeats a falsehood enough times, even they will eventually believe it. If someone can convince themself so much that they internalize it, they can confidently spread those mistruths to Canadians. In the challenging times the world is going through, people are looking for simple solutions. Enter the Conservatives, who will throw the complexity and the facts to the side and just want to talk about “common sense”. We saw what this jettisoning of the facts has done under the Conservatives before. During the Harper era, they completely gutted science in Canada, specifically anything related to the environment and to climate change. They also eliminated the long-form census because they do not actually believe in making policy based on evidence. We cannot go back to that. They do not actually want people to have lower heating bills; they want them to be stuck and strapped into the roller coaster of global fossil fuel prices. If they truly believed in saving Canadians money on energy, they would support our policies.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Patrick Weiler (West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Lib.)

Dec/7/23 4:44:56 p.m.
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Switching from home heating oil to a heat pump will save families between $1,500 and $3,500 a year. That is why we are working with the provinces and territories to roll out programs to speed up the adoption of heat pumps in Canada. Together with switching to an EV, this can save families as much as $10,000 a year. The government is intent on making that happen with a series of incentives and programs. It is working. As I mentioned, emissions are going down. Over 18% of new vehicle sales were electric last year, and 26% of new vehicle sales in B.C. in the last quarter were zero-emission vehicles. It is not only the future; it is also the present. We cannot let the Conservatives bring us back to the Stone Age. This motion, along with the last 12 or 18 or whatever it may, is simply a distraction from the real reason the cost of energy is high, which is, of course, the windfall profits from the oil and gas sector. The Conservatives would rather keep Canadians strapped into this roller coaster while the majority of foreign-owned fossil fuel companies are hosing Canadians, sending tens of billions of dollars from Canadians outside of the country while handing out massive bonuses to CEOs and cutting thousands of Canadian jobs. Instead, we are showing how we can deliver a cleaner and more prosperous economy.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Patrick Weiler

Dec/7/23 4:47:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech earlier, the vast majority of Canadians actually receive more in rebates than they pay in the price on pollution. In fact, this is not just a climate measure; it is actually an affordability measure at the same time. We know that it is important to support Canadians so they can transition into cleaner forms of transportation and home heating. The member for Kings—Hants just talked about our program on supporting Canadians to adopt heat pumps. This is absolutely essential, because it will save Canadians a ton of money, especially low-income Canadians. It is important that we provide a lot of those supports up front, so it is important that we work with provinces and territories to do that. When we are talking about transitioning to electric vehicles, it is why it is important that we have those incentives there to support Canadians to adopt them until the price comes down. The price is starting to come down as the technology gets more and more mature and as we reach economies of scale. There is a very important role for the government to assist in the rollout of a lot of these measures, and that is precisely what the government is committed to doing.

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Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23

Mr. Patrick Weiler

Dec/7/23 4:49:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the premise of her question is incorrect; I actually voted in favour of the NDP motion. Many countries around the world have brought in windfall taxes on the oil and gas sector, at this time of especially high prices, to be able to provide that support to their residents. I think there is merit in that, because it does target the reason for the increased cost that Canadians are facing. I also want to mention that, today, when we are seeing these record profits in this sector, it is not actually being invested into decarbonizing operations. That is why our announcement today that we are capping emissions from the oil and gas sector is so key: We want those record profits to be invested in reducing emissions. This cap that we are bringing in is actually going to lead to a tremendous amount of new investment in Canada and new jobs, while also making sure that we can meet our emissions reduction targets. It is a very important measure that will be a key plank of our climate action.

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