Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Given the passage of amendment BQ‑5, as amended by the NDP, the new version is a weakened version of what was originally intended. The original intention was to ban the export and import of thermal coal from Canadian ports within four or five years at most, depending on when the regulations came into force. Now, according to the amended version of the BQ‑5 amendment, it appears that the government's promise to ban the export of thermal coal by 2030 at the latest will be maintained.
However, people have made certain points during the committee's recent meetings. This led me to reflect and propose amendment BQ‑5.1. Some people wanted to maintain the 2030 date to give people in the sector predictability and especially to keep jobs in the sector for as long as possible. I understand the idea behind that. However, I believe we will still have to eliminate the export of thermal coal eventually. That's what the government wants too, according to what's been indicated so far.
But if we wanted to eliminate coal exports, logically we wouldn't increase the volume. At the very least, we'd have to maintain current levels. Since this was included in our mandate in 2021 and was also added to the Liberal Party's election platform in 2021, the elimination of coal exports became predictable from 2021 onwards, in my opinion. Logically, we could therefore expect that, from 2021 onwards, we would have stopped launching new projects to increase exports or imports of thermal coal. It is for this reason that I propose amendment BQ‑5.1, which aims to limit these volumes so that they do not exceed those established in 2021 between now and the complete ban.