Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Minister, most of the emphasis in your mandate letter is on what you will get rid of to combat climate change. Yet, there is precious little on what you will replace it with.

One of the best ways to get the electricity grid to net zero by 2035 is through nuclear power, an abundant and carbon-free energy source. Yet, in your climate plan I see no indication of what your government is investing in this energy source. While your plan clearly identifies close to $1 billion and more for wind and solar, all that nuclear gets is a mention of an action plan for small modular reactors.

Minister, why is nuclear power — a stable and safe source of carbon-free energy — such a low priority for the Trudeau government?

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Environment and Climate Change: Thank you for that question. I saw that letter from those scientists and experts. I know and respect many of them.

That being said, we are going to need this technology, not just for the oil and gas sector, but for the cement sector and probably for the steel sector because we will not be able to reduce our emissions fast enough to avoid global average temperatures from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

Maybe if we had started not just in Canada but everywhere around the world — and a few countries did — but if we collectively had started tackling climate change 25, 30 years ago, like some of us have been calling for, maybe we wouldn’t need it, but we are going to need it. I do not think, and no one thinks that the federal government alone should invest in that technology.

We’ve committed to have a just transition, meaning that we are going to work with every region of this country, every sector, to help them decarbonize their operations. It includes steel. It includes cement. It also includes oil and gas. We’re not going to abandon the sector and say, well, you deal with this on your own while we’re ready and willing to help all the other sectors.

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