Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to start by thanking my Bloc colleague for this amendment and congratulate him on the recent addition to his family.
This is a critical amendment. We know that we are in a climate crisis. This is the existential crisis of our time. The burning of thermal coal is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. We are definitely on a pathway of phasing out thermal coal ourselves, but emissions don't know borders. If we're shipping thermal coal to be burned elsewhere, those emissions are still contributing to the climate crisis.
It's been two years since the Liberals promised to phase out thermal coal exports, and we've yet to see any legislation. That's why I'm tabling a private member's bill to ban thermal coal exports.
I want to thank my Bloc colleagues and my Green colleagues for pushing this. I want to extend a special thanks to Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, CAPE, as well as the Council of Canadians and citizens all across the country who have been pushing the government to do the right thing and ban thermal coal exports.