Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
We thank you for having us appear before the committee. I join you this morning from unceded Kanien’kehá:ka lands, better known as Montreal. I will be sharing my time with my colleague Lauren Latour, the climate ambition coordinator for the network.
Climate Action Network Canada is the only network in the country that brings more than 130 labour, faith-based, indigenous and development groups together with Canada's leading environmental organizations, all of whom are working together on climate change.
The past year has taught us a lot about the vulnerability of the Canadian economy. The global health crisis and its devastating consequences place us at an historic crossroads. Will we seize this moment to build back better, through a just and green recovery that will make us more resilient to future crises, including climate, economic inequality and racism? Or will we redouble our efforts to promote the status quo?
The challenge and urgency you and your colleagues must face as lawmakers require government to take action on the economy in ambitious ways that are different from what we are all accustomed to.
Canada is the only G7 country whose emissions have increased since 1990. To contribute to the global effort to contain the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, Canada must become massively involved in the economy. This will require more than simple incentives and voluntary programs for consumers and businesses. The magnitude of the challenge requires us to take a revolutionary, moonshot approach, much like the transformation of the Canadian economy during the Second World War, the space race, or, more recently and fresh in our memories, the global effort to rapidly develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines.
As a first step, this will therefore require that the government adopt a regulatory approach with clear timelines, particularly in the only two Canadian sectors where greenhouse gas emissions are still on the rise: the oil and gas sector and transportation. This was pointed out by previous witnesses. For example, in the transportation sector, we have important work to do in land use planning and public transit. However, we also need to go beyond incentives for the purchase of zero-emissions vehicles and implement a national mandate that will require auto retailers to gradually increase the sales of electric vehicles to 100% of new vehicles by 2035. Quebec is doing it. It will ensure that we have assembly lines and supply chains in this crucial sector of the automotive industry in Canada.
As a second step, we must scale up climate investments. Many experts estimate that we should spend 1% to 2% of GDP per year, the equivalent of $20 billion to $40 billion, to decarbonize the economy. By way of comparison, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives estimates that the amount committed to climate spending in April's budget is more like 0.25% of Canada's GDP. Yet that budget featured historic and unprecedented investments in climate.
My colleague Lauren Latour will now speak to you about the scope of these investments.