moved:
That Bill C-43, in Clause 89, be amended by replacing lines 18 and 19 on page 67 with the following:
“domestic credits.”
That the Bill C-43, in Clause 89, be amended by replacing lines 23 to 30 on page 69 with the following:
“18. The Agnecy may not acquire eligible Kyoto units.”
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say a few words on this area. I appreciate the ruling of the Speaker earlier today ruling theses motions in order. They are an important public policy issues. I am pleased that we have the opportunity to say a few words on the motion.
This is part of a whole area within the federal budget that relates to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The first question Canadians might have asked themselves on budget night was, “Why is this in the middle of the federal budget?” Generally, environmental legislation stands alone. It is introduced by the Minister of the Environment, it is debated and the House decides on it.
In my opinion, by sticking it in the budget, the government figured it might get the budget through anyway, so it might as well load it up. The government might as well have put a few amendments to the Criminal Code in the budget if it thought they might be unpopular. In any case, the government decided to go ahead with amendments in this area.
The motion that we have put forward deals with the whole question of carbon credits. The budget proposed something known as the Canadian emission reduction agency. This would be a new agency of the federal government.
It is a hot day in Ottawa. I bet that gives members a bit of a chill that a new government agency would be created. Is that not a wonderful idea and it comes with its own bureaucracy too. This is another great idea from the Liberals to deal with this. Who knows, maybe a few Liberal friends have a little time on their hands. Maybe they could help out and dole out the money. After all, it has a $1 billion budget. I bet it will be very popular.
There are some of us who think that this is exactly what we do not need. What this agency is charged with is buying, among other things, foreign carbon credits.
Incredibly, this is a plan to start purchasing outside the country the right for Canadian companies to pollute inside the country. We pay other people outside of Canada. Try to even explain this to people. Most people would find it incredulous. The obvious candidate for this is communist China. We already heard that it is the beneficiary of largesse from the Canadian government. Go figure, the more repressive the regime, the more favourable its treatment from the Canadian government.
In any case, if we buy foreign carbon credits, apparently China is on the must go to list. It does not make sense to spend Canadian money outside the country for the right for Canadian companies to pollute. We sure do not need one more bureaucracy set up by the government to dole out money. That is exactly what Canada does not want.
This is why the Conservative Party has been saying for some time to make a made in Canada environmental policy. My colleague, the member for Red Deer, has been on this case for quite some time. He has been getting excellent reviews across the country when he presents his made in Canada plan from our party and for our country. Our plan makes sense. Who should be subsidizing pollution over in China? Who should be sending Canadian dollars outside our country? It does not make any sense whatsoever.
We think any money for an agency such as this should be spent on green technology in Canada, helping out Canadian companies to reduce pollution, not to be subsidizing it and sending the money outside the country.
Our position on this is very straightforward. We want a made in Canada solution. We are absolutely committed to cleaning up the environment in our country. There are those who say take the word “Conservative”, conserve what we have by protecting Canada's natural resources and cleaning up the water, air and land. Our party stands for that and this is why we have to oppose things like this.
It should not be in the budget at all and putting it in the budget still does not make it a good idea. It is a bad idea and we have opposed this all the way along. We sure do not need one more Liberal organized bureaucracy in this town. We also sure do not need to give them any budget where they can start spending money.
We know how difficult it has been for the government to keep an eye on money that is supposed to be spent in Canada. We have had months of testimony on all the problems it has had keeping track of money. The Minister of Finance is not quite sure where all the advertising money went. He claims he was unaware of the program.
If the Liberals do not know where the money goes when it is spent in Canada, how will they figure out where it is spent when it is sent overseas? They will not know how or where that money ends up. This is a bad idea and I hope all members of the House accept and support us on these very reasonable amendments.
Those are my comments and I certainly look forward to the support of all members of the House.