Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you and all the people with you for being with us today, Minister.
I am going to start by talking about COP15 and congratulating you on the agreement being signed. I think you and everyone who attended with you influenced the outcome that led to the agreement. However, certain initiatives were taken that are contrary to biodiversity objectives. As we know, biodiversity and climate change are closely connected.
I would like you to speak about Trans Mountain. According to the information documents distributed to us for today's meeting, $2.4 million has been awarded in grants and contributions. That small amount is not what interests me; it is the $30.5 billion figure. We are talking about a 44% increase since the beginning of the pandemic, and I find this disturbing and frustrating. I understand there has been inflation, and I imagine that affects the project as well. I would note in passing that this project has been opposed by the Bloc Québécois since 2018, the year it was announced.
A number of independent analysts concluded, after this $30.5 billion was announced, that the resale of the Trans Mountain, TMX, network to private equity firms would call for guarantees from the government for the debts contracted by investors and the banks that finance them. The government said that once the sale was completed, it would be possible to recover it all. In my opinion, we can forget about that; it isn't going to work.
Minister, as you know, it is urgent that structuring measures be adopted in connection with the labour force, the legislation and strategies for reducing the carbon intensity of heavy industry sectors. It is particularly urgent that innovative technological solutions involving renewable energy be funded. These are all sectors where dollars could have been invested.
I recall that when the project was going to cost $7 or $8 or $10 billion, the leader of my party said that the Bloc Québécois was prepared to take those billions of dollars and invest them in Alberta to help oil workers get out of that field of work, but the government is still dragging us into a bottomless pit.
Can you formally recommend that we get out of the money pit that TMX represents?