What I am trying to say, Mr. Chair, is that it is very important for the federal government to focus on federal issues and not provincial ones. I was saying, quite rightly, that the government has the bad habit of encroaching into areas of jurisdiction that are not theirs, especially as regards the environment.
Let me remind you that, with Bill C‑69, the federal government gave itself the power to decide, without consulting anyone and especially not the provinces, to conduct environmental assessments of major hydroelectric projects. Yet this is essentially a provincial matter, unless a dam were built on the St. Lawrence Seaway, which is under federal jurisdiction, but that is not likely to happen. It has been this way for a hundred years and it works very well, as we know.
So the government has given itself the power to redo what Quebec already does with respect to the environment. The environmental assessments conducted by the office of environmental public hearings are quite serious and thorough. They are conducted by scientists who reach a conclusion. The federal government, on the other hand, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who has been in office for eight years now, thinks that the people in Ottawa are smarter than those in Quebec and will conduct a better assessment. That is not true. It simply duplicates and delays the process.
We all have the same objective of reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, living in a greener environment and reducing our carbon footprint as much as and for as long as possible. That means new technologies, renewable forms of energy and, for those with the potential, hydroelectric power.
The federal government has given itself a mandate by interfering in things that are not its concern, but it was called out by the Supreme Court. Furthermore, a week or two ago, the Federal Court invalidated the government order prohibiting single-use plastics. So two courts have overturned a federal government decision. The government is not pleased and will appeal. That is its right, its privilege, and it is using it. The fact remains, however, that two courts, namely, the Supreme Court and the Federal Court, have told the government that the environment is a matter of shared jurisdiction and that it has to properly identify what is federal and what is provincial. Unfortunately, the government had not done that.
It is never too late to do so, though. As we know, the Alberta government has suggested certain measures relating to Alberta's sovereignty. Yesterday, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change said that was fine and he was not getting involved. It is never too late to do the right thing. After two warning shots from the courts, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change finally looked at the Constitution, realized that the Alberta government was in fact right, and decided to drop it.
If people are not happy, they will send that message in the next elections. If my friends on the government side are not happy with what is happening in Alberta, let them to go the polls, and I wish them good luck. This is the fourth time I am offering my Liberal colleagues the opportunity to go to the polls in Alberta. Moreover, I understand there will not be many candidates, so they can go ahead if they like.
I want to get back to something that is very important. If by any chance Hydro Quebec does something that bears scrutiny or that does not have unanimous support, will we, at the federal level, grill the people from Hydro Quebec here for a tense fifteen minutes? I don't think so. There are other bodies that already exist for that purpose. In Quebec, that place is Quebec's National Assembly. The other provinces have legislative assemblies, except perhaps for Newfoundland and Labrador, where there is also a national assembly, as I recall. If I'm a bit off on constitutional law, I apologize. I am saying that just in case.
From my point of view—perhaps I am mistaken but I don't think so—, the motion proposed by my government colleagues is an intrusion into...