Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister, as a former minister of the environment, you are surely aware that, in environmental matters, a major principle is “polluter pays”. After all, as a principle, it's quite simple: major polluters are asked to pay for the costs of the negative effects they are having on greenhouse gases. My impression now is that a new trend is emerging in Canada, the principle of “polluter paid”.
In the last two years, I have tried to identify all the economic support that Canada provides to the oil and gas sector. There is simply no way. First of all, you are not clear on what a grant is, which is a problem right off the bat. Some say that it was about $24 billion per year from 2017 to 2020. That is an awful lot of money. Many even say that Canada is the G20 country that supports the oil and gas sector most enthusiastically.
The problem I see with programs like the emissions reduction fund is that it is an attempt at greenwashing. It is an attempt to make the oil and gas sector sexier in the eyes of the environmentalists. But it comes at a terrible cost to us. Moreover, everyone knows that the more support we provide for fossil-fuel energy, the longer we wait for clean energy and new technologies.
So let me repeat the question I asked you earlier: in your opinion, would it be best to shut down the emissions reduction fund?