Transport Committee on March 21st, 2024

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

They're all towns that aren't linked to Quebec's road system. They aren't connected to the national road system either. Consequently, their inhabitants don't have any roads to drive home on. So they probably weren't too happy when you said, about a month ago, that the government had made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure.

What do you have to say to those people who heard you say that?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

As I've previously stated in public, and as I repeated to your Conservative Party colleague earlier, the question concerned the third link. I should have answered more clearly by saying that it obviously concerned the third link, even though the question was about that. I cited numerous examples of investments that the federal government has made through Parks Canada—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I understand.

You say that—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

—in road projects. For example, I mentioned Mauricie National Park, in Quebec.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Yes, you say your remarks were about the third link.

That's what you're saying now, but that's not what appears in the article that was published in The Gazette. I'm quite certain that the journalist, Michelle Lalonde, did a good job of faithfully reporting your remarks. I don't think I'm mistaken. She quoted you as clearly saying that you were not going to build any new roads.

However, the journalist addressed the third link idea in the second article she subsequently published. So what we understand is that you had discussed projects "such as" the third link.

What we understand from that is that the government won't commit to any major projects.

Consequently, as I see it, investing to connect towns such as those that I mentioned is nevertheless a major project. We're talking about investing billions of dollars, but, well—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I don't agree with your interpretation of my comments. I was actually talking about the third link.

Moreover, that's a comment that I and other Quebec ministers have made many times about the third link. This isn't new. You heard those comments.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

What I understand from that is that you genuinely meant the comments you made at the time but that you're backpedalling now.

It was absolute at first: The government was going to stop building roads. Then you switched to the idea of not building any major road projects "such as" the third link. Now you're saying that it's just the third link that you won't be building.

It's good to clarify—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I still don't share your interpretation of my comments.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

—or adjust your remarks. It isn't prohibited, Minister.

However, in another part of your statement, you said that the analysis you did was that the network was perfectly adequate to respond to the needs you had.

So you conducted some analyses. Would you please forward those analyses to the committee?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I was referring to analyses conducted on the third link, which are public.

If you're a fan of Infoman like me, you probably saw the bit in the season finale with all the third link studies piling up on the Quebec City mayor's desk.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

It says here that, when you mentioned analyses, you meant analyses that "you" had conducted. So my understanding is that those analyses were conducted by your office.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I was specifically referring to public analyses on the lack of any need to conduct—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

So you didn't conduct any analyses, which is all right.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I know the Bloc Québécois is very interested in the third link. I'm still looking for the environmental values that your leader attributed to the third link when he made that comment.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

As you can understand, I wasn't really talking to you about the third link, which for the moment is more of a hypothetical project. We don't know if it will be carried out or not, or what form it would take if it is. Consequently, it's hard to express an opinion on a project that for now doesn't exist.

However, I'd like to know if these studies exist.

I actually put this question to the Minister of Transport earlier today, and he told me that he had never seen them and that he didn't know whether they had been conducted either.

I therefore conclude that there are no such studies, and I'm quite disappointed to learn that.

I don't want to blame you for wanting—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The third link studies exist, and I'd be glad to forward the reports to you. They are public.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I'm talking about studies conducted by your office. If there are any, I'd like to have them.

However, I don't blame you for wanting to step away from the car-centric model. I think we can all agree on that.

I just wonder whether the purpose of your statement was to restore your image as an environmentalist and to conceal the decisions your government has made.

I'm thinking, for example, of its decision to allow the Trans Mountain purchase and even the construction of other such pipelines, as well as oil drilling permitting for places like Bay du Nord.

You've also decided to base your energy transition entirely on oil and to allow the oil companies to conduct business as usual on the assumption that isn't a serious problem because we're going to use carbon capture, an unproven experimental technology that, as far as we know, may not even work.

Ultimately, wasn't your statement solely intended to conceal your government's poor record?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I don't at all share your interpretation of our record, nor do a large number of environmental organizations.

What we've done in the past two years has been hailed by organizations such as Greenpeace, Équiterre, Réseau Action Climat and the David Suzuki Foundation. Whether it be—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

So you're proud of having approved the Bay du Nord project. You're proud of getting into—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I let you ask your question—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I'm asking you the question.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

—sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Pardon me. Please speak one at a time for the sake of our interpreters.

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

We are the only G20 country that has eliminated fossil fuel subsidies, as we committed to doing at the 2009 G20 summit in Pittsburgh. I'm thinking of the goal of reducing oil and gas sector methane emissions by 40%, which we will meet next year, in 2025, the clean fuel standard that we introduced and the zero-emission vehicle standard.

No other G20 country can boast of those achievements. And we've gone even further by also pledging to eliminate public fossil fuel funding. No G20 country has made that commitment. We are the only country to have done so, and, from 2019 to 2021, we also achieved the highest greenhouse gas emission reductions of all G7 countries.

You may say there was a pandemic during that period, but, as far as I know, the pandemic was global. Consequently, we've achieved the best record in spite of it all.

I'm very proud of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

Next, we have Mr. Bachrach. The floor is yours for six minutes.