House of Commons Hansard #99 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was seniors.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again the Leader of the Opposition talks about coming up with a half-baked plan in 2005. He signed the Kyoto accord in 1997. Why did it take him eight years to come up with a plan that did not get the job done? It is because he did not do it.
Stéphane Dion LiberalLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, this is the first time that the Prime Minister recognizes that there was a plan in place in 2005, a plan which he killed. He also killed something else, which has grave consequences for humanity. In December 2005, representatives from the world over gathered in Montreal, under the aegis of the United Nations and Canada's chairmanship. Approval for the Montreal action plan on climate change was worldwide. Yet, this Prime Minister killed the plan, ridiculed Canada in Nairobi—
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the only one denying anything is the leader of the Liberal Party, who is denying his environmental record. The conference and the plan he launched were all talk no action. The former Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development commented that the measures contained in his plan were insufficient to meet Kyoto requirements. He had a job to do with respect to the environment and he did not do it.
Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Speaker, members of the NDP say that they support the Kyoto protocol while the government has spent years fighting it. These allies are now partnering to tinker with the clean air act. They say that they support it. Why are they supporting this law? Nothing good can result from this marriage of convenience.
Will the government commit to a plan that honours its Kyoto obligations?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, in recent years, Canadians became very used to Mr. Dithers, the leader of the Liberal Party. Now we see Liberal members showing up at committee and what we have is Mr. Delay. They want to study it for months. Canadians have had enough of that.
I wanted to look for some wisdom on Kyoto to find out what Kyoto was all about and here is what I found:
I think our party has got into a mess on the environment. As a practical matter of politics, nobody knows what (Kyoto) is or what it commits us to.
Does the House know who said that? The deputy leader of the Liberal Party said that.
Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Speaker, we at least have a plan. They do not have any with respect to the Kyoto protocol. Every major greenhouse gas can be regulated nowadays through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. No new piece of legislation is required in order to act now.
Why does the government not use the existing legislation to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, this government developed the Canadian clean air act. For the first time in this country's history, three months ago, we announced our intention to regulate our industries. We are currently working on that.
While the Liberal Party was holding meetings that would go on and on for months, this government was busy developing these regulations because it is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a little known concept on the other side of the House.
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, a recently released report mentions that the government is hoping to increase fivefold its production of oil from the tar sands, in order to supply the United States. The Prime Minister has accused the previous government of being behind this report. The real issue is not who is behind the report or not, but whether the Prime Minister agrees with its content, as suggested by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Natural Resources.
Will the Prime Minister tell us if he agrees with the report that was released on oil production in Alberta?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that the Bloc Québécois leader is referring to a program that aired on Radio-Canada, where it was said that this government had organized a meeting with American and Canadian oil companies. We know that this meeting was organized by the former government.
It is important that the House of Commons does not become a free zone open to speculation.
Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister does not want speculation, he should simply answer the question. Then things will be clear and there will be no speculation.
He is accusing the Liberals of being behind this report. Fine. But let him show us how he is different from the Liberals. Does he agree with the report which, he says, was prepared by the Liberals? Are they both the same, or are they different? Let the Prime Minister provide an explanation and there will be no speculation. It would not be a bad thing if this place were a free zone.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois leader is illustrating what is different with our government. The difference is that the Minister of Natural Resources announced new funding for the capture and sequestration of the carbon released by the production of oil from the tar sands. When it comes to the environment, our government is doing its job.
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, five times the development of the Alberta oil sands means five times the pollution. And five times the pollution means five times the cost of cleaning it up.
How can the government allow the oil companies and Alberta to continue adding so drastically to the environmental clean-up costs, when Quebec will have to help foot the bill?
Gary Lunn ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, for the record, all new projects, anywhere in Canada, are required to go through environmental assessments, and that will continue to be the case.
However, this government is taking immediate action. We announced $230 million in our ecoenergy technology initiative as a direct investment to start moving forward an exhilarating CO2 capture and storage. This shows great promise of capturing greenhouse gases and putting them back down in the ground where they came from. What we should be working on together is to reduce greenhouse gases. I look forward to the member's constructive support and her ideas on how to accelerate this--
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, when it comes time to pay for the damage done to the environment, it seems to me that those who became rich while contributing to pollution should have to pay the bill.
How can the government ignore this principle when it come to the oil companies and Alberta?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the only real issue is this: if the Bloc Québécois thinks that the tar sands are so terrible, why is it asking that the revenues generated by the tar sands be included in equalization payments?
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, a UN report predicts that, by the end of the century, sea levels will have risen by a half-metre. It is time to act. However, the other political parties rejected the tight schedule proposed by the NDP, and supported by environmental groups, to take action.
Is the government serious about this issue, or does it prefer to wait for some time to help its friends from major industrial polluters?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. We are the first government in the history of this country to propose concrete action to deal with air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
We hope that the House will act and adopt this bill.
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, for 12 months the Conservatives have delayed action. It was 156 months of delay with the government before them. Yesterday both of them were working together with the Bloc to make sure there would be even further delay. Now we are going to have to wait months before there is a report from the special committee dealing with the crisis of climate change: some crisis in their eyes.
Why will the Prime Minister not simply stand up and tell his members here to get to work, produce results and stop letting down Canadians?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I say once again that this is the first government in history to say that it is moving forward with a comprehensive plan to regulate and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions across the country. We want to see this job done, for my children and for everyone's children, and I would urge all members of Parliament to work to pass the legislation.
Lucienne Robillard Liberal Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians remain skeptical about the Conservative government's sudden conversion as far as environmental issues are concerned.
Will there one day be a “road to Kyoto” like the road to Damascus? It will be very easy to see whether the government's green claims are sincere. Canada ratified the Kyoto protocol. We therefore have international obligations.
Is the government prepared to recognize, in Canada's Clean Air Act, all of Canada's obligations under the Kyoto protocol?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, this government is very aware of the concerns of Canadians when it comes to the environment. It heard the last government talk about the environment a lot and make many promises, and saw it hold many meetings, but never saw it follow through with real action.
We in the government, on this side of the House, accept our responsibilities, including our role in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are very aware of the importance Canadians place on air quality.
Lucienne Robillard Liberal Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. Under the Conservatives there is no Kyoto protocol, no green plan, no green budget, no emissions ceiling, no carbon exchange, not even any reports to NAFTA. In short, no action and no results.
A year later, what is this Conservative minority government waiting for to take action? This government is not so new any more. Will the Prime Minister finally show some leadership and respect the Kyoto protocol commitments?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of the Environment
Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that this hon. member was a member of the cabinet that did absolutely nothing for 10 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, these emissions increased by more than 30% under the Liberal government.
Our government has taken real action. We have indicated our intention to regulate industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve air quality. We made a proposal in a special committee of this House, and what we saw yesterday is that the Liberal Party wants to continue to be all talk and no action.
