Debates of Sept. 26th, 2018

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I take issue with some of the parliamentary secretary's comments. He made the assertion that resources are not being redeployed to deal with illegal migrants and thereby slowing down processing the claims for legitimate refugees applying to come to our country.

What is really problematic in this whole situation is that the Prime Minister has no plan. Perhaps most concerning is that he is not willing to even receive criticism around this issue. He refuses to answer questions in the House about his failure, except I may note that in April, when I asked him to confirm whether crossings between legal points of entry were illegal, he actually did confirm to the House and Canadians that yes, that was illegal crossing. Even though many of the members in his caucus prefer to keep calling it irregular, the Prime Minister did confirm in his answer to me that indeed these crossings are illegal.

I would like to reiterate that what we need from the Liberal government is a plan to deal with the influx of illegal migrants.

[Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Speaker, to my colleague's first point, he knows full well, because he has been here for awhile, that it is illegal for those people to come over the border until such time as they ask for asylum. Then they become part of the process that we provide to asylum seekers.

To the point that we do not have a plan, my hon. colleague knows full well that we have a robust six-point plan. The priorities are to keep Canadians safe, a priority that I think we all share as members of the House; to ensure that we have a process in place that looks at every case individually in a manner that is just, fair and efficient; and that we apply all of the rules and abide by our international obligations. My hon. colleague also knows that we have been doing just that. In addition to that, we have invested $173 million in the short term to provide more resources on the ground to help deal with this unprecedented influx of asylum seekers in Canada.

I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question, as it is always great to discuss issues with him. I look forward to future discussions.

The Environment

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the topic I am discussing tonight comes from a question I asked in the House back in April. The question was essentially, how can the government square its approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline with Canada's Paris climate action commitments? I asked this question then because I hear it almost every day from my constituents. We hear a lot in this place about pipelines and concerns about consultation with first nations and concerns about the impacts on the marine environment. Those are important issues. Those, in fact, are the issues the Federal Court of Appeal raised when it recently quashed the Trans Mountain expansion approval.

However, the question of how a government that claims to be a world leader in climate action can approve a pipeline whose only purpose is to expand oil sands production is troubling. This question was raised by the government's own ministerial panel that toured the pipeline route before the government gave the project approval. This was one of the six questions the panel said should have been answered before the pipeline decision was made. Now we have not only approved the pipeline, but have bought it.

How are we doing on our Paris targets? At Paris, we committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030, which points to a target of just over 500 megatonnes of carbon dioxide. We are at about 700 megatonnes now, so we have quite a ways to go. To put that into perspective, we would have to take all passenger vehicles off Canadian roads to get halfway to that target, and lately our emissions have only been dropping by a few megatonnes per year.

A national price on carbon would get us part of the way there, and I commend the government for its commitment to that action. However, all of the government's announced policies will still leave us short. The Climate Action Tracker site, which covers the commitments of all countries that signed onto the Paris Agreement, classes Canada's climate action efforts as “highly insufficient”. It is easy to feel that we are doing well when we live beside the U.S.A., which is listed as “critically insufficient”, but we share our highly insufficient grade with some countries whose carbon footprints many people like to criticize, such as China's. Most of the developed world—Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Mexico—rank well above us. Also, one of the countries I often hear held up as a problem on the world climate action scene, India, is actually leading the pack with its policies and accomplishments.

With planned policies, Canadian emissions are projected to reach 569 megatonnes by 2030. To get below that, I hear rumours that Canada will try to change the rules and move the goalposts by relying on carbon sinks in our forests and land-use policies, without reference to the levels those sources were providing before our Paris commitment.

The Climate Action Tracker site adds that there is no clarity as to how many international credits Canada plans to use to meet its target. The use of international carbon credits implies that a portion of Canada's emissions reductions will not be met by domestic mitigation efforts. Here I would add that there is no indication that the international community will recognize international carbon credits for any country trying to meet its Paris commitments.

After I first raised this question last spring, the Canadian government doubled down on Trans Mountain and bought the project for $4.5 billion. We are spending our money subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. We are going in the wrong direction.

[Peter Schiefke, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I can think of no better way to conclude the sitting of today other than to stand up in this chamber and discuss the work that our government is doing in order to protect our environment while still growing the economy, so that Canadians can enjoy their quality of life while protecting it for the next generation.

I would like to first start off by thanking my hon. colleague for his question. I know that it comes from a good place. I share his concerns about environmental protection. I spent a good 10 years of my life working in the environmental field, particularly on the issue of climate change as the director of former vice-president Al Gore's climate change awareness foundation. This is an issue that is close to me personally as well. It is an honour for me to discuss this matter with him.

I know that his province is suffering the devastating effects of climate change and has been for some time, while wildfires are raging on. An increased risk of forest fires, as he knows full well, and I agree with him, is but one example of the impacts it is having on our communities, another being the tornado that just devastated the national capital region here in Ottawa and Gatineau.

We know our communities must become more resilient, not only for what lies ahead but for the changes we are currently seeing in our climate. To this end, I am proud to say that our government is taking leadership on climate action at home and abroad. We are taking concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support clean growth and build climate-resilient infrastructure.

We were among the first countries to sign and ratify the Paris Agreement. I am happy to reassure the member that we are following through on our Paris commitments, by implementing a national plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 and build resilience to the impacts of climate change within our community.

We have a climate change plan. The pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change has been designed to meet or exceed the Paris Agreement targets. Our plan is the first climate change plan in Canada's history to include collective and individual commitments by federal, provincial and territorial governments, and to be developed through engagement with national representatives of first nations, Inuit and the Métis nation, the general public, non-governmental organizations as well as businesses.

Our plan has more than 50 concrete measures, including a pan-Canadian approach to pricing carbon pollution, as well as new policies, programs and regulations to reduce emissions in every sector of the economy, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, foster clean growth technology solutions and create good jobs that contribute to a strong economy at the same time.

The decision we took on the Trans Mountain expansion project was based on facts, science-based evidence and what is in our national interest. Our government approved the Trans Mountain expansion project following the most rigorous federal regulatory review and consultation on a major project in Canadian history.

We approved the project subject to 157 legally binding conditions to protect the environment and ensure that the project moves forward in the safest and most sustainable way. The Trans Mountain expansion project is consistent with the pan-Canadian framework as well as the Government of Alberta's very own emissions cap on the oil sands.

We have built a path for sustained indigenous engagement through the $64.7 million Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee and are confident in the world-leading environmental standards, ocean and coastline protection under the $1.5 billion oceans protection plan.

We have taken an approach to resource development that will grow our economy and protect the environment from climate change, two of our government's main priorities, which are not mutually exclusive but are in fact complementary.

In short, we have covered a lot of ground since launching the pan-Canadian framework and we are starting to see results. When the policies and programs within the framework are fully implemented, our plan will not only allow Canada to meet its 2030 target in full, but it will also position us to set and achieve deeper reductions beyond 2030.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the point is that I have seen no analysis out there that shows that we will meet those 2030 targets with the pan-Canadian framework. It will fall short.

After I asked this question last spring, I travelled to Argentina with the Minister of Natural Resources for the G20 energy meeting. The theme of that meeting was the grand transition to a low-carbon world. The Chinese minister talked of his country's bold action, moving directly from coal-fired plants to renewable energy. The U.K. minister talked of his country's three-point plan of action: legislated targets; significant investments in clean tech, including $2 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure alone; and a real plan to create good jobs in the clean energy sector. Our Canadian minister talked about buying a pipeline.

We can do better. We have to do better. I call on the government to abandon the Trans Mountain project and invest instead in a clean energy future.

[Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to further discuss with my colleague the measures we are taking to reduce pollution.

I can reiterate that we are implementing a pan-Canadian framework on pricing carbon pollution. As of January 2019, a minimum price of $20 per tonne of carbon will be in effect across the country. That is just one of the measures we are taking to reduce our greenhouse gases and to meet our obligations under the Paris Agreement, which we signed a few years ago.

Again, I thank my hon. colleague. As I said, I look forward to continuing our discussion in person in the days and weeks ahead.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:42 p.m.)