Thank you.
I'm the co-chair of Elbows Up for Climate, a coalition of over 250 mayors and councillors working together to ensure that Canada prioritizes climate action and economic sovereignty. As you mentioned, I'm the former mayor of Toronto and the former chair of the Ontario auto industry mayors. I currently work on climate issues as the managing director of the C40 Centre.
I'm speaking today from the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, including the Songhees and Esquimalt nations.
My comments will focus on the importance of building Canada's economic independence by choosing nation-building climate projects.
This summer, our country was literally on fire from coast to coast to coast. Well over 200 communities were impacted by wildfires and more by flooding. Manitoba and Saskatchewan both declared states of emergency.
Communities that are not directly impacted often host climate refugees for weeks and months at a time. The impacts our communities are facing are widespread and devastating, from Jasper's cleanup costs to massive home insurance increases in Yellowknife. The estimates of the insured damages from Flin Flon and La Ronge are at $300 million and counting. Why should everyday Canadians bear the cost of inaction? Without urgent action to tackle climate change, studies suggest that Canada is on track for $100 billion per year in climate damages by 2050. These are just three examples. There are many more.
That's certainly part of the reason that the overwhelming majority of Canadians demand climate action. Climate change is real, and the impacts are serious and getting worse. Science shows that it is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels and that the world needs to nearly halve their use by 2030. That's only possible if Canada does its part. The good news is that climate action is nation-building. It can help us build the made-in-Canada economy we need—far more resilient and less dependent on our neighbour.
The asks of our campaign are clear. Create a national east-west-north clean electricity grid; build a national high-speed rail network; build at least two million non-market, energy-efficient homes; make our homes and buildings warmer in winter and cooler in summer with retrofits and heat pump installations across the country; and fund a national resilience response and recovery strategy so our communities can prepare for the climate disasters we know are coming, respond when they are hit and rebuild afterwards.
In closing, it is critical that the voice of communities suffering climate disasters be heard. We know that the voice of the oil and gas industry has been heard. Public records show over 600 meetings between the government and oil and gas lobbyists since January, with 50 meetings with Minister Hodgson since the elections, an average of two a week.
The voice of the majority who want climate action and want to live in safe, resilient and economically strong communities needs an equal place at the table to, for example, point out the simple scientific fact that we have to reduce reliance on fossil fuels rapidly, not increase it. There is no grand bargain with science. We make the point that the fossil fuel majors, which made $35 billion in profits in 2022 alone, do not need public subsidies. Ottawa's funding should instead be invested in projects that create the jobs of the future: nation-building not nation-burning projects.
Today there is an exceptional opportunity and duty to build the future we need. The government's plan needs to be significantly more ambitious, to apply the polluter pays principle more rigorously and to prioritize climate-forward, nation-building projects that are crucial for our short-term reality and long-term prosperity.
Mayors and councillors across the country understand the challenges this government faces when it comes threats from the U.S.A. The jobs of our residents are on the line. Allowing our communities to burn, be flooded or otherwise damaged by climate-related disaster is a choice, one we do not need to make if Canada plays its part in ensuring that the world avoids climate breakdown.
Thank you.