44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2023 02:00PM
- Dec/13/23 2:31:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that the price on pollution is a key part of actually making things more affordable for the long term for Canadians by pushing and encouraging innovation.
Indeed, our departments reached out to the farm family of the very successful large mushroom farm in the member opposite's riding to talk about the programs we have that can move them off their dependence on fossil fuels.
We know there is work to do and we know there are investments to make, but that is how we fight climate change and build a better future. We have a plan to fight climate change. Conservatives have no plan because they do not even recognize that climate change is real.
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- Dec/13/23 2:38:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for farms across this country that are shifting towards natural gas and lower-emitting ways of heating and using their various machinery, we have put in place significant programs to help them with that.
That is something we are going to continue to do, because it is part of our plan to both fight climate change and build a net-zero economy of the future. We have a plan. The Conservative Party of Canada has no plan to fight climate change. Indeed, it thinks we should be backing off on all the things we are doing instead of continuing to fight climate change and grow a strong economy.
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- 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 2:51:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has already addressed this question and investigations are under way.
The work we are doing on fighting climate change is already cutting pollution while building a strong and competitive economy. While we work to advance our ambitious climate action, the Conservative Party has no plan because fighting climate change simply does not matter to it. The Conservative leader is turning his back on future generations on both the environment and the economy by refusing to commit to Canada's targets, like his mentor Stephen Harper did when he withdrew from the Kyoto accord.
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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 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 3:02:57 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 3:27:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
Three times today, the leader of the official opposition made reference to a document that was tabled at COP28. That document, entitled, Climate Change Performance Index, gives the—
Some hon. members: No.
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- Dec/13/23 6:49:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate what my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, said about the impacts of climate change. I completely agree with her on that. I was a farmer for more than 40 years.
However, I want people to understand the impacts of the tax on the cost of farm production. It is increasing the very high cost for chicken farmers, for example. We know that when baby chicks arrive at the chicken coop, the heating needs to be set quite high.
We are told that it is not true that the tax has an impact. Just this past Monday, we asked the president of Metro, Mr. La Flèche, whether the price of the carbon tax and propane, among others, had direct impacts—
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Madam Speaker, climate change is causing wildfires, natural disasters and other extreme weather events to become more frequent and more severe. The effects are widespread and devastating for communities across Canada. Of course, that has a price that our farmers will have to endure.
The impact of climate change on farming is terrible. We simply cannot afford not to fight the climate crisis. The Parliamentary Budget Officer agrees that the impact on a hundred dollars of groceries is significantly higher considering the impacts of climate change.
The reality is simple. Bill C-234 would delay much-needed programs while farmers should start transitioning toward greener technologies. I have seen first-hand the damage that is caused, with the loss of infrastructure and housing, specifically in indigenous communities, which are at the front lines of this. We cannot go backward. We have to keep moving forward.
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