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House Hansard - 309

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 309 - May/6/24
Mr. Adam van Koeverden (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, Lib.)
  • May/6/24 10:32:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is a common misconception about carbon pollution pricing and, quite frankly, I am surprised to be having this conversation with the member, who is extremely reasonable and generally quite fact-based and believes in science. Three hundred top economists from Canada have all written a letter pointed squarely at the Conservatives and their rhetoric around carbon pricing, urging them to look at the facts. A couple of things are true. One, our price on pollution is not having a negative impact on the very real challenges with respect to affordability that Canadians are facing. Inflation is the number one cause of the challenges that Canadians are facing when it comes to paying their bills, but there are other factors as well, like corporate profits and climate change itself, which is having an outsized impact on the price of food, particularly produce and meat, in all provinces and everywhere around the world, not just in Canada. This idea, referenced by my colleague, that carbon pollution pricing is the root of the affordability challenges is absolutely not founded in truth. It is this approach that the Conservatives have taken, which is a fact-free freelance on evidence and science. They seem to be ignoring all these economists who are basically urging the Conservatives to take a different approach. They have not, unfortunately. Even the most progressive and reasonable members of the Conservative caucus need to sing for their lunch and repeat the phrase over and over again, repeating the slogan. Slogans are not progress. Slogans are not policy. Slogans are not going to solve an existential threat like climate change. When somebody wins a Nobel Prize in economics for a concept, and then relates that to Canada's approach to carbon pricing, as William Nordhaus has done, who won a Nobel Prize for carbon pricing and said recently that Canada is getting it right, it demonstrates to the world exactly how carbon pricing should be done. It is because it is having a positive impact on the finances of families who are on the lower-income scale. I think back to how my mom's finances would have been supported with a $1,000 cheque, and now it is a $1,120 cheque for a family of four in Ontario. We need to rely on facts and evidence to get our emissions down in this country. Canada is one of the highest-emitting countries per capita, and a lot of that is coming from the province of my colleague, which is our largest oil and gas-producing province by far. Almost 40% of Canada's emissions are coming from Alberta and the oil sands there. Alberta has about 13% of Canada's population, so that is an outsized footprint that we need to address. It is unfortunate that we are here late into the night repeating slogans and catchphrases, but catchphrases and slogans are not policy. They are not going to help solve an existential threat like climate change. Carbon pricing is just one of a suite of measures that is lowering our emissions. In 2015, our emissions were going up. It is now 2024 and our emissions are coming down markedly. Finally, we will achieve our 2026 targets. That is really remarkable. We were on the wrong path in 2015, and we have changed course. We have turned around and lowered our emissions in Canada. This is a team effort. It does not have to be a partisan thing. It is not a Liberal approach to solving climate change or a Conservative one. It is Canada's approach to solving climate change and lowering our emissions, and I wish the Conservatives would come up with some solutions.
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