Environment Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Since you're here, Ms. van der Kamp, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss with you the suspension of the excise tax on gasoline. I recall that during the COVID‑19 pandemic, oil companies were able to play somewhat with refining margins and increase them in a way that didn't necessarily correspond to the rise in the price per barrel.

Have you put measures in place to ensure that the 10¢ amount, which is roughly what the excise tax savings represent, is not clawed back and absorbed by oil companies through refining margins? Are there any measures to that effect? Has Natural Resources Canada conducted any studies on the implementation of such a policy?

[Anna van der Kamp]

Thank you for the question.

I would have to refer that to my colleagues at Natural Resources Canada. My expertise is in EV charging, not in the price of gas. I apologize.

If you would like, you could ask for specifics, and I can come back to you with studies on that.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

So you have no indication of that. Not a problem.

I'd like to come back to one point. There was a funding program for electric city buses and electric school buses. We're hearing that the government is currently working on refinancing city buses, but that it may have dropped the requirement for them to be zero emission. Is that in fact the case?

[Mark Cauchi]

Are you talking about heavy-duty vehicles?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I'm talking about buses.

[Mark Cauchi]

It's not included in our regulations for light-duty vehicles. As I mentioned, there are greenhouse gas reduction regulations for heavy-duty trucks, including buses, but that's not our sales mandate. It's a performance regulation related to greenhouse gas emissions.

As you mentioned, the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities manages a program to subsidize zero-emission buses. This is an important part of our federal approach.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Is the funding for zero-emission buses still being maintained?

[Mark Cauchi]

I think you should ask my counterparts at the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada about the funding for this program.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Okay, thank you.

On March 31, the incentives for medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles program came to an end, I believe, before it really began to have its intended impact in Quebec. It takes a long time to roll out a structure like that. There are still manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles in Quebec that no longer benefit from this type of support. Am I understanding correctly?

[Anna van der Kamp]

I'd also have to say that this is the Transport Canada program, and so I can't speak to that.

I'm sorry.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much to all the witnesses for being here.

Mr. Leslie, you have the floor.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I have a question, Madam Chair.

There were lots of questions referring to the transport infrastructure. Transport Canada, as it turns out, probably should have been here today. Rather than ask for another hour with just them, can we send written questions to the clerk to be sent to Transport Canada to answer and not waste more time? We could then have their answers available for the study. There was at least a handful or more, as well as I stopped asking the ones that were clearly on the track of Transport Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Yes, I think that would be a question for the clerk or the analysts to respond to.

Is that appropriate?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Leif-Erik Aune]

If members send me questions that they would like asked of government for written responses, then I would be pleased to reach out to the parliamentary affairs offices of those respective departments and convey the questions on behalf of the committee.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Okay, so we'll happily take that opportunity and send those to you in relatively short order.

My hope is that they'll choose to answer them and that we can include them in the final report that the analysts will be putting together, if they're of relevance, which I assume they will be.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Yes, I don't see that as being an issue. The intention of the questions is to get answers to inform the final report, so the analysts will take that under advisement.

Thank you very much to our witnesses for their time today. We really appreciate it.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 21, at 3.30.

I thank all of our wonderful committee members for a great meeting.

We are adjourned.