I acknowledge that some efforts have been made, such as the proposals for the circular economy. We did not have time to really talk about them in our presentation, but they are in the document we submitted. That is certainly one way to apply the principle that “matter can neither be created nor destroyed” and to model ourselves on nature. However, we have to do more than that because, at the moment, despite all the talk, our greenhouse gas emissions are actually increasing.
When we look at the various sectors of the Canadian economy where emissions continue to increase, first place undeniably goes to the oil sands and to fossil fuels. So we have to look at the science and the exact figures. We have alternate solutions. We waste a huge amount of energy. You mentioned SUVs, that's a great example. We must find other ways to meet our transportation needs without using as much petroleum.
Petroleum will be an issue as long as we keep investing in infrastructure, in pipelines and such, that needs to remain profitable for decades. But we know that we have start the race for carbon neutrality now. The future, the health and the quality of life of our children all depend on it. So we must find other solutions. We must reframe our priorities around what is most important for us, and that, in my view, is our children.
Someone said earlier that we're killing jobs. In my opinion, we're killing the future of our kids right now. That's what we do when we buy a pipeline.
That is what we are doing when we subsidize fossil fuels to the tune of $30 billion. That money should be going directly to support the workers. With $30 billion, how many people could we pay to move to other sectors full-time? Alberta has potential in solar and wind energy, and they are just starting to explore it.