Evidence of meeting #152 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was plan.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
You will have it when we are in power or during the election campaign.
Liberal
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Minister, you are in power right now.
We did an outstanding job, since you have taken up the targets set by the Conservatives. The scientists who worked under the Conservatives did a good job.
Minister, you will not meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets of the Paris Agreement. How is that possible? If you have any respect for scientists, you will set the carbon tax at $300 per tonne. That is hypocrisy on the part of the Liberal Party. What we are getting from the Liberal government right now is smoke and mirrors.
Minister, how can you tell Canadians that you will take the necessary steps to improve their quality of life and take concrete action on climate change? According to the public discourse, this is an emergency.
What have you been doing for the past 1,230 days?
Liberal
Liberal
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
So why are you taking the Conservative Party's greenhouse gas reduction targets?
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I have a point of order, Chair.
Can the minister pleased be allowed to answer a question?
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
I would be happy to see a Conservative Party plan achieving its targets, because you voted for it. We have a plan—
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
It's not a plan from the Government of Canada, it's a plan from Canadians. We spent a year negotiating a plan with the provinces and territories, indigenous peoples, small and large businesses and environmentalists. It is a plan for Canadians, by Canadians. It is a plan to achieve our targets, and we will continue to do so.
What are the Conservatives doing? Every day in question period, the Conservatives—
Conservative
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
—say they are having problems with the plan, but they don't have a plan.
Conservative
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
You want pollution to be free. Brian Mulroney, a Progressive Conservative, is the one who put a price on pollution. We learned Mr. Mulroney's lesson and it worked.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you for learning from the Conservative Party.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
When I was a child, acid rain was the biggest environmental problem, and Mr. Mulroney put a price on pollution. That worked and good jobs were created. It was a Canadian innovation. He showed leadership.
You have no leadership on climate change. I'm not going to take any lessons from you.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Minister, let me just remind you that greenhouse gas emissions decreased the most while we were in power. Are you aware of that? Are you able to admit it? I am not asking you to take lessons from the Conservative Party and the previous Conservative government, I am asking you whether you are aware of that fact.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
You know what happened? There was a recession. If you want to take credit for that, you can.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Ha, ha! That is how you see things, Minister. I find it unfortunate that you say that. It's smoke and mirrors and you're not serious about it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
You have 20 seconds left if somebody can fit something in. We've been consistent about sharing time.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Minister, I want to remind you that in 2016 under your plan Canada fell 44 megatonnes short of meeting its Paris targets. In 2017, we fell 66 megatonnes short. In 2018, we fell behind 79 megatonnes.
How can you say that your plan is working? Yours is simply a tax plan. It has nothing to do with the environment. This is about taxing Canadians: GST, carbon taxes, clean fuel standards... At the end of the day, Canadians are simply going to find it more and more difficult to find affordability, to find housing, to be able to raise their families.
How can you justify that? The evidence shows your plan is failing. How can you sit there and in a bald-faced way suggest that you're meeting the targets?
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
The targets are 2030 targets. We have a plan. We report our mission reductions transparently, and that plan will get us to the targets.