Environment Committee on May 3rd, 2022

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

As I said in my answer to your first question, we've made significant progress, but we realize there is a lot more work that needs to be done.

I am confident, and I think the department is confident, that we can reach those goals. We are working with a number of partners that I've mentioned. I could add Nature Canada, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and many other partners that also feel confident. It is a lot of heavy lifting, but with the money provided in budget 2018 and budget 2021, as well as the doubling of the funds for a nature-based solution in the emissions reduction plan, we're confident that we can get there.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you.

I'm going to cede my time to MP May.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You have 45 seconds.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Quickly then, Minister, the timing was rather awkward in that the emissions reduction plan came out on March 29. I put it to you that it needs to be completely overhauled to meet the demands of the April 4 report of the IPCC.

I know you've asked other MPs for citations. On page 22 of the “Summary for Policymakers”, in paragraph C.1, it says that we have to peak emissions no later than 2025 and have them drop in half by 2030.

Are you prepared to scrap the TMX pipeline and Bay du Nord to have any hope of meeting the IPCC advice?

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

Thank you for your question.

As you know and as you can see from the national inventories, our emissions have already peaked and are declining. The IPCC, in its latest report, said that we should reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. Our goal is to reduce them by 40% to 45%. We've presented a plan that clearly shows how we get to at least minus 40%, and we're on track to meeting our....

There will be an update to the emissions reduction plan next year, in 2023, which I hope will clearly show how we get to minus 45%, therefore being exactly where the IPCC is asking countries to be in terms of their emissions reduction.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I don't think you can actually just divide the peaking globally—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you, Ms. May.

I must stop you there.

We have time for one more round of questions.

Mr. Mazier, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

For ECCC, has your department conducted any analysis on how much carbon tax will increase the cost of food?

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

For a detailed answer, I could certainly turn to the associate deputy minister, Mr. Paul Halucha, who could provide you with some information to your question.

[Paul Halucha, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment]

We have John Moffet on the phone, so I'm going to give him the opportunity to respond, but I would say with regard to carbon pricing that we are very carefully looking at what the impacts are on different sectors of the economy. Part of the objective of providing certainty or clarity to 2030 was to make sure there was certainty in the market so that investments that needed to happen in different sectors, including the agricultural sector, could happen.

We are very much in regular contact with the sector and we meet with them on a regular basis, along with colleagues from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. They are an important stakeholder in terms of the ongoing analysis on carbon pricing.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

On that, the question was on how much the carbon tax will increase the cost of food from now until 2030. I guess you haven't done this, basically.

[Paul Halucha]

It's very hard to isolate—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Yes or no? Have you looked at it? It doesn't come to top of mind, so probably not, right?

[Paul Halucha]

Right now, I would say, given supply chains and given what's happening internationally, I think if we had done a study two years ago—and we can certainly check to see if we did do that—we would need to revise it in light of new economic factors.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Can you please check? That would be great if we could get that to the committee.

[Paul Halucha]

Absolutely.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Minister, how many electric vehicle charging stations does the government plan to build specifically in rural, remote and northern communities by 2035?

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

I don't have the breakdown across the country in front of me. As I said, our goal is to double what we initially committed to, going from 25,000 to 50,000. We could certainly provide you with a regional breakdown of where the stations will be.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Yes, that regional breakdown is very important, especially for the rural and remote areas, so that would be great.

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

As you know, our incentive does provide for people who want to use plug-in hybrids, so you have a battery that gives you 40 or 50 or sometimes a little bit more autonomy on electricity, and then your internal combustion engine kicks in for those people whose needs can't be met solely by 100% electric vehicles.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

That's at what cost? We talked about this last time. Affordability is a huge issue with those vehicles.

For the minister, again, in 2019 the Liberals promised to plant two billion trees. How many trees have been planted to date, and how much has this cost the Canadian taxpayers?

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

As you know, the commitment was to plant two billion trees by 2030, not in 2019. I don't have the details of the program in front of me, but we can certainly follow up with you specifically on that. As you know, this program is administered by the ministry of natural resources, not Environment and Climate Change Canada.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Okay. If that could be tabled, that would be great.

To ECCC, has the department developed a briefing or recommendation on increasing the carbon tax by more than the scheduled increase within the next 10 years in order to meet the government's environmental targets?

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

You're asking if there's been briefing on....