Finance Committee on Nov. 16th, 2023

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Fair enough.

I'll ask the same question to the National Cattle Feeders' Association.

How important is Bill C-234 to helping bring affordability back to our producers?

[Janice Tranberg]

It's very important.

Last week I was talking with one of my members. He was telling me that he looked at one month's bill—he was looking at his heating costs—and 25% of the bill was the actual product. All the rest was taxes, delivery charges and everything else. That's at the current level. Once it goes up—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Would you be able to table any of that with the committee, with that person's approval?

[Janice Tranberg]

I can ask.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Fair enough.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Hallan.

To all witnesses, you are able to send in to the clerk anything that was not captured, and then it will go to our analysts. Thank you.

Now we're going to our final questioner for today, and that is MP Baker.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.

Since I'm the one who is wrapping it up, thank you all again for being here today.

I have lots of questions I want to ask, so I'll do the best I can in five minutes.

Mr. Breton, at the start of your presentation you made several concrete suggestions. I am not saying we should not do everything you suggested, but if you had to prioritize one or two or three of your suggestions, what would they be?

[Daniel Breton]

The first would be regulation, to make sure we have an adequate supply of light and heavy electric vehicles. The second would be to put infrastructure in place, which is extremely important everywhere in Canada. The third would be education and training, because without education and training, we will not be able to create the high quality jobs we want to create for young people and for the future. There is a transition to make, not just in energy, but also in jobs, and so we have to be up to the task. For now, we are not yet there and this is a real challenge.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you.

As was mentioned here yesterday, the federal government, in collaboration with the provincial government, has recently invested funds to attract investments in electrifying transportation. The battery plants in Ontario are one example. What do you think? What will the impact of these investments be?

[Daniel Breton]

The auto sector in Canada was on the verge of dying and had been in a long decline for 20 years. Thanks to the investments by the Canadian government, we are seeing a resurgence in the auto industry, including trucks and buses, whether on the part of Volkswagen, Stellantis, Northvolt or other companies. As a result, Canada has recently risen to third place among the countries that attract the most foreign investment.

People say that this is wasting money or throwing money around, but in fact it is an investment for the future. First, as you know, it is directly related to the American Inflation Reduction Act. If the public money spent in the United States under that act go down, the Canadian subsidies and credits for battery manufacturing will also go down. Nonetheless, these are plants that will be there for 40 or 50 or 60 years.

Yesterday, the Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, was at our conference, where we talked about the future of the transportation electrification industry. It was a vision of the future.

The first time I talked to the federal government about developing a supply chain for electrifying transportation in Canada was almost 20 years ago. Things have sped up in the last two years. The time is right, because auto manufacturers are investing everywhere in the world at the moment. People are grumbling about public funding for the Volkswagen battery plant, but the thing to remember is that Volkswagen will not have any other plant in North America. Canada is the one that was chosen. The same is true for Northvolt: there will be no other plant in North America. Some people seem to think this is wasteful. Actually, it is an investment.

I hear you talk about finances: what do you think the economic cost of air pollution is in Canada? According to a report by Health Canada, it is $120 billion a year. Air pollution comes from two sectors: transportation and oil and gas. If we want to talk about economics, then let's talk about health economics, people's health being wasted by pollution.

Forest fires are another thing that absolutely has to be considered. For 40 years, an average of two million hectares of forest has burned every year. The previous annual record, set in 1995, was seven million hectares. This year, 18 million hectares of forest had already burned in September.

Fossil fuel production has an economic impact, an impact on families and an impact on the people who were evacuated. This year, we saw disasters everywhere in Canada because of forest fires. So I think the attitude of some people, people who say we have to produce more oil and more gas, is a bit cavalier, since that is part of the problem.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you.

In my riding, Etobicoke Centre, I sometimes hear people say that the fight against climate change is important, not just for our planet and our health, but also for the economy. A strategy to fight climate change is part of an economic strategy.

[Daniel Breton]

That is what we say at Electric Mobility Canada. We want to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but we want to do it by creating sustainable, good quality jobs in Canada, whether in electrification of transportation, the hydrogen industry, or the renewable energy sector. Young people want not just high quality jobs, but also jobs where they feel they are doing something tangible to improve their future and their family's future. The climate disasters we are now seeing give us all something to think about. I think we should not be wilfully blind.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Thank you, MP Baker.

We want to thank all of our witnesses for coming before us and for your testimony for our pre-budget consultation in advance of the 2024 budget. We really appreciate your testimony.

Again, as I mentioned, for anything that was not captured, please feel free to send it in to our committee and to our analysts. We have one meeting left before we conclude our meetings on pre-budget consultations and get into the report.

On that, thank you very much for having us here. The hospitality in Alberta, in Edmonton, has been tremendous, and we really appreciate it. Thank you.

We are adjourned.