Yes, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in Canada did essentially stop over the last year because, you're right, people did stay home and work closer to home, and industry was shut down. I don't think that's what's being advocated for here.
I think what we're looking for is economic growth. It's based on an energy-based economy, where oil and gas are not necessarily the basis of the energy source.
That's one of the things I think we need to look at in the future. No one is projecting that net zero means we go back to horses and buggies. In fact, the reason we got rid of horses and buggies was not that we ran out of hay to feed the horses; it was that better technology came along. We are at that threshold now in society technologically, where the reason we are getting away from gasoline-powered automobiles, other devices and things that run on fossil fuels is not that we're running out of fossil fuels in the short term; it's that there are better technologies in place.
One thing we should take away from the report that came out from the International Energy Agency yesterday is that the necessary technologies and innovations to achieve net zero already exist, so the science bit has already been done. The key is how we make the transition to an economy that's based on those new technologies and innovations.
It's possible, I think, which is the message I would ask all members of this committee to take away. You're right, this legislation is a question about process, but it's important because the government sets the process that helps the economy transition to this new technology.