Madam Chair, my colleague already talked about this motion.
I think that's obvious to the committee. Members will recall that the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development was the committee that worked on the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. The act is very clear that there must be an assessment after five years. That was more than five years ago. The government says that fighting climate change is important, so I think it's one of the first things to be done.
Is this legislation that was passed at the time working? Is the government on the right track?
Our committee did hear from a number of witnesses back then. It's a key component. I think there's a way to do that quickly. We need an overall vision. On the one hand, we need to know whether the government is complying with its laws. I know that, in some respects, it has set aside environmental legislation. On the other hand, we need to know if these laws are working, or if they're just sitting there. Are they being used?
For now, we ourselves should have started this assessment, which was required after five years, not after five and a half years, which is about where we are, or after six years if we wait.
There is a climate emergency. We saw it today: The Canadian Climate Institute released a publication saying that, in 2025, greenhouse gas emissions increased, when they should be reduced. Canada has nearly 700 million tonnes of greenhouse gases equivalent to CO 2. The Canadian Climate Institute says that it will increase even more, that the increase will escalate.
Therefore, it is urgent to see if the legislation works. Is Canada implementing it? In my opinion, it is up to our committee to express its opinion on this and study the situation.