Hon. Pamela Wallin: The international consensus, minister, is clear — including experts such as the International Energy Agency and even your own colleagues, such as Minister O’Regan — that the path to net zero before 2050 must include the full range of energy solutions, including nuclear. You assert that Ottawa has no role and that only markets develop sources, but we all know that the federal government does have a role in recognizing, funding and ensuring the positive green impact from nuclear.

Minister, you have publicly and vociferously opposed nuclear power most of your life. Is that still your belief?

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Environment and Climate Change: Thank you, senator. I wouldn’t say we’re against the idea of autonomy for the energy sector. In fact, we’re working on strengthening our country’s energy autonomy. As I said to one of your colleagues earlier, I’m not the one saying that oil production will peak in 2028. That’s from the International Energy Agency, which many consider to be one of the most credible organizations in this area. I could mention the report by our energy regulator, which says Canada’s oil production will peak in 2032, not 2028.

I agree with you that we are going to keep using oil for quite some time. However, what seems very clear according to the experts is that oil production will decrease year after year. We are currently decarbonizing the transportation and electricity generation sectors. We’ll have a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. We are working with companies in the aluminum sector to produce aluminum with virtually no GHG emissions. We are working with steel companies too. As a result, our need for fossil fuels will shrink over time.

[English]

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Environment and Climate Change: As you know, energy is not within Environment and Climate Change but within Natural Resources Canada.

That being said, we have ongoing conversations with our European friends and colleagues to see how we can help them as they transition quickly away from Russian oil and gas. As you may know, we don’t have right now an SMR Canadian technology that is up and running. There’s research and development happening, but that technology is not ready to be deployed commercially and it therefore cannot be exported to other countries. But the federal government is subsidizing research and development in that sector.

If you want more specific information, you should address your question to the Minister of Natural Resources.