Evidence of meeting #5 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was targets.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Scientific Director, Trottier Energy Institute, Polytechnique Montréal, As an Individual
No, I can't really.
To date, this market has had very little impact, because industries pay virtually no emissions fees. The system as it is currently designed hardly works.
Not only should it be reviewed, but it should also be accompanied by real industrial strategies for the development of specific technologies.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you for the answer.
Ms. Brouillette, as Canada expands its trade relationships, how will strong industrial carbon pricing ensure Canadian businesses are not placed at a competitive disadvantage?
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
As I mentioned during my remarks, we're seeing an increasing number of jurisdictions, including the European Union, our second-largest trading partner, putting in place carbon border adjustment mechanisms, which basically require Canadian companies that are trading to disclose their emissions profile. Increasingly, the companies that are going to be able to enter that market and not face financial penalties are those that are the most efficient from a carbon perspective.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
This is open for anyone who may want to chime in.
The Supreme Court has confirmed federal authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution. In your view, how can that national role be reconciled with provinces pursuing their own unique paths to net zero?
Go ahead, Ms. Brouillette.
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
Climate action is a team effort. We need each level of jurisdiction—federal, provincial, territorial and also municipal—to really use all levers at their disposal. In fact, recent data from the Canadian Climate Institute show that the biggest greenhouse gas emission reduction comes from policy that is shared between federal and provincial jurisdiction.
In 2030, 53% to 58% of emissions reductions would come from policies that are harmonized between levels. It means that the federal government should really be playing a strong role. At the same time, provincial and territorial action matters as well.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Donner and Mr. Mousseau, would you have anything to add?
Scientific Director, Trottier Energy Institute, Polytechnique Montréal, As an Individual
If the provinces are opposed to federal policies, as we can see, or are extremely static, the federal government has relatively little power based solely on the environmental issue.
As I said in my remarks, Canada needs technology transformation strategies. We have to stop counting tonnes of carbon and make a decision to completely transform the building sector.
The problem is that it affects sectors that are not directly related to the environment. So we need to find other tools or approaches that go beyond the environmental issue.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Donner, I think I only have about 30 seconds left in my time, so a quick—
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Ellis Ross
Member, because of that slight break, I'll give you an extra 15 seconds.
Liberal
Professor, Net-Zero Advisory Body
To build on what Professor Mousseau is saying, the research the Canadian Climate Institute did we did with them. The really key finding of that was these equivalency agreements with the provinces are vital, but right now they're not transparent enough. They need to be monitored more closely, and one example is within the industrial pricing system.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Ellis Ross
Thank you very much.
Now we will go to Mr. Bonin for six minutes.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Brouillette, since the Carney government came to power, we've essentially seen the abandonment of carbon pricing; Bill C‑5 to authorize, for example, major liquefied natural gas, or LNG, projects; and the abandonment or postponement of the zero-emissions act, which was supposed to drive the introduction of electric vehicles. In addition, there has been a decline in heat pump installation and energy efficiency incentives.
We see that the government is no longer committed to meeting its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.
Do you see the same thing, that there have only been climate setbacks since Mr. Carney came to power?
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
Thank you for the question.
We are waiting for the government to reveal its plans. We've heard about a climate competitiveness strategy, and we're quite eager to learn more.
That said, given that we're not on track to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030, I would say the setbacks are worrying. A policy is being eliminated without proposing any alternative. Mathematically speaking, as I said earlier, we can't pull megatonnes of GHGs out of a hat.
We are therefore eager to see what policies the government will put in place to meet the targets set out in the climate legislation.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
From what I understand, you have seen nothing but setbacks so far from the new government in terms of climate policy.
Is that correct?
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
We have seen setbacks so far. We're waiting to see what proposals the climate competitiveness strategy contains.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Okay.
My next question is for all three witnesses.
The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act includes a target to reduce GHGs by 2026, which is a 20% reduction from 2005 levels.
Based on what I'm hearing from you, the government will be unable to meet that target.
Can you confirm that?
Can you also explain what purpose of this net-zero legislation serves if it provides no certainty and allows the government to miss its target?
Are there examples around the world of more robust legislation that could have forced the Government of Canada to meet its targets, which it is currently failing to do?
Scientific Director, Trottier Energy Institute, Polytechnique Montréal, As an Individual
I'll jump in, if I may.
First of all, some countries are making progress. Those countries have set very strict targets. They are making progress and meeting their targets. Some are exceeding them. Two examples of that in Europe are the United Kingdom and Germany. Clearly, it's not impossible to meet our targets.
To do so, we need to implement structural transformations. That's the challenge we have to overcome. You can't make marginal changes. For example, in the approach to heat pumps, rather than structuring a price drop at the time of installation, building the willingness to install and banning natural gas in new buildings, they opted for costly subsidies. Those don't really create the momentum required to irreversibly integrate heat pumps and move away from using natural gas and other fossil fuels in buildings.
That's the kind of approach we need to take, and we have to forget about the 2026, 2030 and probably 2035 targets to reframe our approach and meet our 2050 targets.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
My next question is again for all the witnesses.
If you had two priority measures to propose in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, what would they be?
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
Mathematically speaking, setbacks mean that we are eroding our ability to meet our targets not only for 2030, but also for 2035.
In the oil and gas sector, GHG emissions continue to rise, while other sectors of the economy are doing their part. The one measure that would have gotten us to our targets and still can get us to our targets is an oil and gas emissions cap. There has been a delay in its implementation, and now there's uncertainty around that. This is a critical aspect.
My colleagues have mentioned the importance of strengthening our industrial carbon pricing system and addressing the significant gaps in it. The shortfall is well documented in this regard. In terms of climate competitiveness, this is an important opportunity.
I would also note that the methane regulations are nearing completion. Again, reducing methane emissions is an extremely effective and low-cost lever, and we should not deprive ourselves of that.
Professor, Net-Zero Advisory Body
I'll add as well the two most important things at this point. Number one is increasing the effectiveness of the industrial pricing system. It can be the workhorse of climate policy in Canada, but the markets are not working well enough, and simply connecting the provincial markets isn't going to be effective enough. We need to increase the performance standards or set more of a price floor and make sure that the federal government has negotiated clearly with the provinces to make sure that the industrial pricing system is as effective as possible. It's helping to unlock a lot of low carbon investment as well.
The second thing is looking at all of the different regulations and policies that we have to make sure they're overlapping and working together in positive ways rather than in negative ways. We need to make sure that they're all implemented.
Our number one piece of advice in our annual report last year about how to get to the 2030 target was simply to finalize the announced policies. The previous government put a lot of policies in the works. They're listening to the emissions reduction plan, but not enough of them were put into action. They are not implemented as of yet.
Conservative
October 2nd, 2025 / 12:50 p.m.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses who have come today. I really appreciate your time, as do Canadians.
Ms. Brouillette, you've been an outspoken advocate on carbon pricing in the past. Is the Climate Action Network actively lobbying the government to take a look at the consumer carbon tax that was recently removed?
Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
Climate Action Network Canada is registered according to the Lobbying Act. We're not currently working on the consumer side.