I'm referencing the report because it's directly tied to the current report being studied by the committee, report number four.
Last fall's report makes it clear that the government's much-vaunted plan on climate change is not going to get us to Paris. It's clear in exhibit 1.5 that the government is 45 megatonnes short of meeting the Paris target of 523 megatonnes. Then when I read your current report, report number four, I see in that report that you indicate the government's decision to remove tolls on the bridge has had a huge impact. In fact, you estimate it's going to increase vehicular traffic over the bridge by some 20%, from 50 to 60 million vehicles a year. This, to me, is not abiding by the government's professed principle of internalization of our economic system; it is doing quite the opposite. It's taking what was an internality for the new bridge, the pricing of traffic over that bridge, and making it an externality. I don't see how this upholds the government's professed belief in being environmentally sustainable.
I just did a rough back-of-the-napkin calculation on your estimate of 10 million more vehicles a year going over that bridge. With the average car using about 2,000 litres of fuel a year and with average carbon emissions of about 2.3 kilograms per litre of gasoline burned, if we multiply that by 10 million vehicles, you will see that you end up with 46 megatonnes of additional emissions that are going to be produced by those 10 million new vehicles. Now I know, ceteris paribus, that this is not exactly a detailed analysis because there will be some substitution to other forms of transit and people may be taking other paths to work, but the point is that if the government is 45 megatonnes short of our Paris accord, every little decision has an impact, and 10 million new vehicles travelling over this bridge is not getting us to Paris. It is not environmentally sustainable.
The second point I wanted to make, Mr. Chair, is that it's not economically sustainable. You say in your report number four that his has blown at least a $3-billion hole in the fiscal framework. We are going to be collecting $3 billion less in revenues over the first 30 years because of the government's political decision to remove tolls on the bridge, so it's not economically sustainable. The additional traffic actually means more wear and tear on the bridge as well, which is going to lead to increased costs.
As well, it's not socially sustainable. It's led to inequity in this country. People have to pay $46 to cross a federal bridge from the mainland to Prince Edward Island and a new proposed federal bridge across Windsor-Detroit, which millions of Canadians will use each and every year, is going to be tolled, yet we have a federal bridge across the St. Lawrence where Canadians do not have to pay. It's not socially sustainable and it's not socially equitable.
I just put those points out there, Mr. Ferguson, and, through you, Mr. Chair, I'd ask if there's any comment on that lack of sustainability in this government's management of this federal bridge in Montreal.