Actually, I'm here on behalf of the Climate Action Network Canada as executive director, so two jobs.
I first want to thank you for the opportunity to present the views of the Climate Action Network. We're an organization of over 50 environmental, labour, faith, and aboriginal organizations that was founded in 1989 to call attention to the impact of climate change and to contribute to developing policies, practices, and regulations to reduce greenhouse gases.
I realize today's session is about transportation, and I'll make some specific recommendations regarding the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act. However, I'd like to begin by reminding the committee that the Climate Action Network has submitted a list of necessary recommendations for changes to Bill C-30, and we hope you'll consider them as you go forward.
The recent IPCC report makes it clear beyond any doubt that climate change is happening and that human activity is causing it. It's incumbent upon all of us as stewards of the earth to do all in our power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible. I also remind the committee that Canada has a legally binding commitment to abide by all the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. We are not free to pick and choose convenient sections and claim we are complying. The target of 6% below 1990 levels is a promise we made, not only to the world of today, but to the world of tomorrow. So Canadians are watching and they're demanding real action. We hope that through this committee we'll see some real action for a change.
Before I move on to cars, I'll just say that Bill C-30 is only part of what needs to be done, and would echo the comments that have been made previously about the need for a comprehensive approach to climate change as well as to transportation. I'll have specific recommendations to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act, but it has to be done within the context of a wider program to promote better use of transportation throughout the Canadian economy.
I'd also like to point out that the automotive industry has a long history of opposing every single regulation that's ever been proposed. If we had taken their advice, we would not have seat belts, energy-absorbing bumpers, airbags, or catalytic converters. None of those things were economically possible or warranted, according to the industry as we went through time, and now we're still hearing similar arguments.
The industry has had to be regulated at every turn. Fuel economy regulation came into force in the 1980s, and it's very interesting listening to Mr. Hargrove explain the present state of the automotive industry in North America. I know all of us aren't, but I'm old enough to remember the late 1970s, and Mr. Hargrove's description of the industry was absolutely the same in 1979. At that time the U.S. government was proposing fuel economy standards, and the industry was saying they couldn't do it, it wasn't fair. They didn't want to have a standard that meant they all had to do the same thing. Because of the oil crisis at the time, the U.S. government went forward, and as a result the fuel economy of cars increased over 100% in a decade.
Since 1990 we've had about a 7% improvement in fuel economy, despite huge amounts of money being contributed by the Canadian government and largely by the United States government to help the industry develop fuel efficiency technologies, which have not been put into the vehicles.
You can also find quotes from the early eighties from the president of Chrysler reminding the industry that fuel economy standards probably saved Chrysler. If you remember back in 1979, Chrysler actually went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the U.S. Congress, but the fuel economy standards forced them to redesign their vehicles from large gas guzzlers to the K-car that morphed into the minivan and was the engine of Chrysler's huge resurgence of the last 20 years. So I don't think we need to be so concerned about the present state of the industry when we know that in the past regulation has actually improved things for them, not hurt them.
I'm going to leave with the clerk a section of a report called The Initial Statement of Reasons, published by the California Air Resources Board in August 2004. The section I'm going to submit has a complete list of all the technologies and an examination of the cost factors that led the California government to conclude that the standards it was proposing for 2009 were both economically and technically achievable.
The California Air Resources Board has looked back on its 50-year history of regulating cars, and it has repeatedly proven that its suggestions in terms of the actual costs of complying with its regulations are far closer than the costs suggested by the industry. So I would like to just leave that on the record.
As for some specifics in terms of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act, of course you realize this act was passed in 1981 and has never been proclaimed. The government has suggested in its Bill C-30process to actually proclaim it and bring it into force. Unfortunately, in the act itself it doesn't mention exactly what it does, other than it gives the minister the authority to set a target. We think that this committee should write into the act the initial target and make a few changes. I'll just list them for you.
First, it should replace the notion of classes and provide a combined target for cars and light trucks. It's the fleet that we want to reduce the fuel consumption of, the overall fleet, not individual vehicles in different classes. A class system will lead to gaming, as we've seen in the United States. There, an extra couple of hundred pounds of weight are added to vehicles so that they become out of class, in a different class. We don't want to see that type of gaming. We want a combined target. We want to see a number embedded in the act for the 2011 model year of 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres for a combined fuel economy for each fleet. We want you to create a section in the act that will require from there an annual improvement of 4%, so that from now on the vehicle fleet will constantly be being improved. It will be one of the things the car companies are required to do.
We would also like to see you—and I think Mr. Nantais would approve of this suggestion—write a provision into the act that if the U.S. rules have the equivalent effect, car companies can abide by those rules in Canada.
We would like to see you require the Governor in Council to establish fuel economy standards for medium-duty trucks. One of the fastest-growing areas of emissions in Canada is medium-duty trucks. These are the UPS diesel trucks you see on the streets in town. These are ideal candidates for using hybrid systems because of the stop-and-go use of them. They are running on diesel and there are no regulations governing them. We would also like to see the Governor in Council have the authority to establish fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks. For both classes of trucks, we should also embed a 4% improvement annually henceforth.
This way, we can put this to bed right now and the details can be worked out later, but we'll have a system in which the automotive sector is constantly improving its products and constantly improving its efficiency. That's something that we need to do. The government recognizes that it needs a long-term target going out to 2050. Let's establish a step-down process and not go back to this process every five or ten years and have the same fight over and over again.
I'll be glad to answer any questions.
Thank you very much.