Debates of May 21st, 2013

Natural Resources—Main Estimates, 2013-14

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that does not justify doing nothing.

The agency points out that the large market failures are preventing the adoption of these solutions; not many green solutions have been implemented; policies need to address the energy system as a whole; and energy-related research, development and demonstration need to accelerate. Does the minister agree?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the ecoENERGY innovation initiative is investing $268 million over five years to fund clean energy demonstration and R&D projects. This includes investments in intelligent energy networks and renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, energy efficient buildings and the environmental aspects of the oil sands.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, speaking of ecoENERGY, can the minister confirm that, since the end of the ecoENERGY for renewable power program, the minister no longer has a major program to facilitate direct funding for major renewable energy development projects?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, through the ecoENERGY for renewable power program, the department is investing $1.4 million over 14 years to support 104 renewable energy projects, representing 4,458 megawatts of capacity in areas such as wind, solar and bioenergy.

The government is actively supporting the lower Churchill River hydro project in Newfoundland and Labrador, a major investment in clean energy infrastructure that will benefit the entire region of Atlantic Canada.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, the problem is that this program was abolished by the Conservatives.

Still on the topic of the ecoENERGY home retrofit program, did the department stop accepting applications in January 2012 before the $400 million was completely disbursed?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the NDP has voted against all our measures for a cleaner environment. Those members have opposed the $325 million over eight years for sustainable development technology. They have opposed the ecoENERGY for homes program. They have opposed our measures to make Canada more energy efficient through our ecoENERGY initiative. They have opposed our measures to make pipelines safer with 50% more inspections and double the number of audits.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, the minister is still avoiding the question, but I am going to ask it again. What proportion of the $400 million ecoENERGY budget was not used?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the ecoENERGY home retrofit program that the hon. member mentioned created jobs across Canada and helped homeowners save an average of 20% on their home energy use. The over 640,000 homeowners who received grants from the federal government starting in 2007 are now saving over $400 million on their annual energy bills.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, if this program is so effective, why was it abolished before all the money was spent? I am going to give the answer that the minister is hiding from us. On December 4, 2012, department employees told the Standing Committee on Natural Resources that the department had spent $185 million. There is therefore $215 million remaining.

[An hon. member]

Shame.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Yes, it is fairly shameful.

Can the minister tell us whether the rest of the money will be used to help Canadians renovate their houses in order to make them more energy efficient? If not, what will that money be used for?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, our government made wise use of taxpayers' hard-earned money while encouraging Canadians to make energy-saving choices. The program stopped accepting new applications in January 2011, when the goal of 250,000 applications was reached, in order to ensure that money would be available to fully respond to all future requests. We extended this program many times. In fact, we invested seven times the amount that was first announced in 2007.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, cutting $285 million is not exactly what I would call being prudent. I call that being irresponsible.

The minister still has not answered my question. What is that $285 million going to be used for?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I said, in order to ensure prudent management in times of fiscal restraint, we used historical trends concerning assessments done before and after the renovations combined with average payouts to each household. We are using the money saved to benefit Canadians.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, if he were any more evasive, he would disappear altogether.

The government has set a goal of generating 90% of Canada’s electricity from zero-emitting sources by 2020.

What sort of progress has been made so far?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the NDP would impose a job-crippling, $21-billion carbon tax that would increase costs to consumers, with no positive impact on the environment. While New Democrats talk about a tax that would hurt consumers, they stand in opposition to every form of resource development.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will repeat the question.

What sort of progress has been made so far on the goal of zero-emitting sources by 2020?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, regarding the eco-energy initiative, here are some examples of our investments: in Ontario, $466 million for 47 projects; in Quebec, nearly $200 million for 10 projects; in British Columbia, $305 million for 19 projects; in Alberta, $166 million for eight projects—

[The Chair, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Order. The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry has nearly one minute remaining to finish her questions.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, can the minister tell us his department's responsibilities in relation to shale gas?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, shale gas is an area of provincial jurisdiction.

It is in the Constitution, and the provinces decide individually. British Columbia has decided to develop shale gas and Quebec has launched an environmental study. The Government of Canada is committed to safe, responsible and sustainable development of our country's natural resources, including shale gas.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, for the minister's information, Natural Resources Canada provides geoscientific information that is used to make decisions related to exploration, resource management and environmental protection.

Is the minister aware of the negative effects hydraulic fracking has on the environment?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I said, this is an area of provincial jurisdiction.

A recent special report from the International Energy Agency concluded that the technology and expertise exist to produce shale gas in a way that will not harm the environment, and we know that—

[The Chair, NDP, Joe Comartin]

The time is up. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources will have approximately six minutes before we are out of time.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Chair, I share the opposition members' enthusiasm for the minister's performance here tonight. It has been great. We want to thank he minister for sharing his evening with us in such an effective way.

I also would like to acknowledge Mr. Dupont and Mr. Arora for the time that they have spent here tonight and the expertise that they bring on this file as well, and I know there are other people who have worked hard to present the natural resources case for this country.

I also want to acknowledge my colleagues who have spent the evening here with us. Most of them have spoken and have spoken extremely well. I think of the chair of the natural resources committee; the member for Vegreville—Wainwright; my colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac; my friend from Wetaskiwin, who spoke a bit earlier; the member for Saskatoon—Humboldt; the member for Yukon, who even sent a “hi” out to his mother there; and the member for Calgary Centre, who spoke so effectively.

I also want to acknowledge the member for Blackstrap, who has been here with us all night tonight because resources are important to Saskatchewan. She is an important member of the cabinet and an important member from Saskatchewan. It is great that she was able to be with us as well.

We have been talking about numbers all night tonight, and there are some numbers that I find a bit disquieting and intriguing. We have talked about the 630,000 jobs that are projected to be created by the oil sands over the next 25 years and the hundreds of thousands of other jobs that are going to be created by the resources sector across this country. Unfortunately, again tonight it seems that we have heard the New Democrats say one more time that they want to say no to those jobs.

It bothers me, when I come from a resource-based province, to hear that kind of thing. As I mentioned earlier, it seems that they oppose everything about natural resources. We heard the member for Edmonton—Strathcona, from Alberta, the province where the oil sands are so important, who came in here and opposed oil sands. We heard my colleague from Calgary Centre talk about the Kearl project and how those greenhouse gas emissions now are similar to what is being produced from regular oil production. Certainly the opposition members should be welcoming that news, but they do not seem to be willing to do so.

We have heard in the past how they have opposed offshore. They do not like offshore and the development of offshore. We hear how they do not like pipelines. Some of them do not like pipelines and some of them seem to. They keep changing their position. I had to appreciate my colleague this afternoon in what seemed to be grudging support for the west-to-east pipeline, although last week his leader changed his own position on that, so we wish them luck in trying to convince their leader that he actually needs to represent all of Canada and just not small interest groups in particular areas across this country.

We are concerned, as I read in a quote a bit earlier, that the NDP opposes all things nuclear. The New Democrats' leader was straightforward about that here in the House. He said that they are just going to oppose it. I can hear my colleague across the way saying that they of course oppose that, that they certainly do oppose that.

There is shale gas, the latest and greatest development around the world that is going to change the way energy is produced and used on this globe, and the New Democrats again come up dead against it.

We also see their opposition in so many ways to mining across this country. My colleague from Yukon and other colleagues from the north are particularly concerned about their opposition up there as they try to develop their economies and begin to get some of the same advantages that the rest of us have.

It was interesting to hear about the impact that the development of natural resources will have on our aboriginal communities. Those of us from the west, and particularly from Saskatchewan, know that we need to get our young aboriginal people involved in the economy and that probably the quickest and best way to do that is through the resource sector. It pains me to have to ask again why the New Democrats stand so strongly against that when it is so important in so much of our country.

At the natural resources committee today we were excited to hear from some folks from Montreal who were talking about the importance of the west-to-east pipeline and the re-reversal of that pipeline so that it can create opportunities in Quebec and further east, as far east as my colleague from New Brunswick. He looks forward to having some of those opportunities as well.

I wanted to talk about the New Democrats' great commitment to the carbon tax and the $20 billion that it would take out of Canadians' pockets. We have not mentioned much about that tonight, and they certainly do not want to bring it up anymore.

However, we look forward to continuing to be the government in this country, continuing to develop resources across this country, continuing under the great leadership of the Minister of Natural Resources, and being able to do that in spite of what the New Democrats want to do to our resource communities, our resource jobs and so much of our resource-based economy.