Thanks, Chair.
I apologize to our witnesses. This is the kind of motion that is taking us away from the important business and the wonderful witnesses we have here today. It's a shame that it's being brought forward at this time. This is the kind of thing that could be done in committee business or something like that, when we don't have witnesses sitting in front of us, and people at home watching and waiting to hear what our witnesses have to say.
I will attempt to be very concise in responding to what Mr. Hallan has proposed.
The first concern I have with this motion is that it calls on the Prime Minister to do something. This motion is, first of all, non-binding, so no matter how the committee decides to deal with this particular motion, the Prime Minister will make the decision that he believes is appropriate.
The second point I would make is, if you read the motion, one of the lines—after a series of lines that, I would argue, misrepresent what carbon pricing is about—reads, “That this meeting be publicly televised and held within five weeks of this motion being adopted.”
I want to bring to the attention of members and those watching that this committee is just starting conversations with witnesses about Bill C-59, which is the fall economic statement. Presumably, there will be a budget brought to this committee. We have a packed agenda. We have already extended the sittings of this committee to accommodate that packed agenda. This would inevitably have the effect, if passed and brought to this committee—if that's what I understand this to mean—of delaying the work of this committee.
The third thing I would say is that if the premiers of the provinces want to meet or speak with the Prime Minister, they can do that. They do that all the time. They have phone conversations. They have meetings in person. To the folks watching at home, if you wanted to, you could simply go to the Prime Minister's Instagram or Twitter feed and check it out. Those conversations happen all the time.
I'm not sure why the finance committee would get involved in micromanaging the Prime Minister's and premiers' schedules. They are capable adults who can get together to meet and talk when they need to, and they do it all the time in various forms.
The other thing I would say is what the Prime Minister has said from the very beginning, and this has been the case for years.... In fact, I was a member of the provincial parliament for Ontario when the federal government was in the process of bringing in carbon pricing. At the time, the Government of Ontario, under the Liberal government of the time, had put in place a cap-and-trade system, which the subsequent and current Ford Conservative government decided to cancel.
The way the carbon pricing works federally is it only has an effect in those provinces that don't have their own approaches to fighting climate change. What's happened here is, since the beginning of carbon pricing, when the Prime Minister brought it in, every province has had the option of doing as it sees fit to fight climate change. That would allow them to not have the carbon pricing plan that is in place today. If they object to that, they have the option of bringing in other forms of carbon pricing. They've chosen not to do that.
We heard testimony from Premier Moe at OGGO, one of our other committees. He basically said they looked at other schemes to fight climate change, and the current federal carbon pricing was actually the least costly.
I suppose the Conservatives' opposition to carbon pricing and their desire to have premiers meet with the Prime Minister is a sign that they want, number one, to take us away from the important business of this committee in reviewing the legislation that the people want and that these witnesses have come to speak to.
I would point out that this legislation has a tremendous number of important things in place for businesses and for workers. I'm sure we will hear that from our witnesses throughout the day today. These types of motions that have been put forward today are meant as delay tactics to take us away from that business.
The second thing I would say is that the—