Hon. Larry W. Smith: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, last week, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released his fourth report entitled Emissions Reduction Fund. The Onshore Program was designed to provide financial support to energy companies because of the drop in the price of oil during the pandemic.

The commissioner’s report stated the following:

Overall, Natural Resources Canada did not design the Onshore Program of the Emissions Reduction Fund to ensure credible and sustainable reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector or value for the money spent.

The Onshore Program was so ill-conceived and poorly executed that it is having the opposite of the intended effect. Senator Gold, can you please explain why your government allowed such a flawed program to be implemented?

Senator Smith: I’ll do this in English, so hopefully we can get a more complete answer. According to data from the Angus Reid Institute, climate change was the number-one issue for Canadians this past election as well as during the 2019 election.

The commissioner’s recently tabled Report 5: Lessons Learned from Canada’s Record on Climate Change provides a historical review of Canada’s commitments and actions with respect to reducing emissions and fighting climate change.

In the report, the commissioner quite bluntly, states:

Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the Paris Agreement was signed, making it the worst performing of all G7 nations since the 2015 Conference of the Parties in Paris, France.

We’re not talking about a year or two: we’re talking 2015 to today. Senator Gold, given the importance of this issue for Canadians, and given the fact that Canadians expect action and results on this file, can you explain why this government is failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and why Canada is falling behind all G7 nations with respect to fighting climate change?