Mr. Chairman and honourable committee members, thank you for inviting the Green Budget Coalition to speak to you again. I'd also like to introduce the Green Budget Coalition's co-chair, James Brennan, from Ducks Unlimited, who can also answer questions.
As many of you know, the Green Budget Coalition is unique in bringing together the expertise of 14 of Canada's leading environmental organizations, collectively representing over 600,000 Canadians and ranging from Ducks Unlimited to Greenpeace. Our mission is to present an analysis of the most pressing issues regarding environmental sustainability in Canada and to make a consolidated annual set of recommendations to the federal government regarding fiscal and budgetary opportunities.
The coalition has welcomed the Government of Canada's progress on the GBC's recommendations, including the Prime Minister's May announcement of the national conservation plan, reductions in tax preferences to the extractive industries, funding for fresh water and infrastructure, and the proposed measures to enshrine the polluter pays principle into law in Bill C-22.
However, many more federal actions are still needed to conserve Canada's natural heritage, to ensure Canadians can live healthy lives, and to play a responsible role in advancing global environmental sustainability
For budget 2015, the Green Budget Coalition is recommending that the Government of Canada pursue three strategic agendas, each of which has a number of associated recommendations. First is energy innovation and climate change leadership with an integrated agenda to capitalize on the blossoming global clean energy economy and to demonstrate leadership on climate change when it is increasingly clear that it its needed. Second is to advance Canada's national conservation plan and make progress on protecting our life-support system starting by meeting our international Aichi biodiversity targets of protecting 17% of our lands and fresh water and 10% of our oceans. Third is to ensure healthy communities for all Canadians, featuring a new environmental health equity agenda to ensure that all Canadians, including vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, can enjoy the same level of protection from preventable environmental health hazards.
Implementing these agendas together could lead to pivotal progress on each of the finance committee's consultation themes, as outlined in the executive summary of our submission, creating prime environmental, economic, and human health benefits.
Given today's focus on jobs, I'd like to outline the key actions we're recommending to accelerate progress on energy innovation and climate change leadership. First is to continue progress on phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, honouring our commitment to the G-20 by committing to not provide new subsidies to liquefied natural gas or renew the mineral exploration tax credit. Second is to announce and implement a well-designed price on greenhouse gas emissions as has been endorsed by the World Bank, the IMF, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, our friends here from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and, I suspect, others at the table here, in 73 countries and over 1,000 companies. Third is to fund fast-charging stations for electric vehicles around major urban centres and provide accelerated capital cost allowance for all forms of power storage to remove key barriers to an efficient Canadian energy system. Fourth is to play a leadership role in United Nations climate change negotiations, including committing $400 million annually for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. Fifth is to protect Canadians and our environment from increasingly volatile weather events, building on the funding for disaster protection that was in Budget 2014, by renewing and expanding the adaptation funding under the clean air agenda before it sunsets in 2016 to at least $45 million per year, and to complement that, by integrating adaptation considerations into all infrastructure project planning and assessment under the Building Canada plan.
Before my time is up, I would also like to highlight a few of the other recommendations we're supporting: renewing and increasing implementation funding for the Species At Risk Act; mapping conservation value across Canada to support the success of the government's national conservation plan; promoting the new environmental health equity agenda, by building on a model that's already in place in the United States; and establishing a tax credit to help Canadians remediate radon, which is the second-leading cause of lung cancer, in their homes.
Thank you all for your time.