Debates of May 7th, 2019

Opposition Motion—Natural Resources

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, who is very clear and definitive on this point. What really troubles me is the change in language by the Liberals. It is no longer “put a price on carbon”; it is “put a price on pollution”. Guess what. Two years ago, the environment committee finished a study on the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. That is the act that regulates toxins. The Liberals have done absolutely nothing with that report.

One of the reasons Alberta shut down those coal plants sooner was because of the health impacts. There are lots of reasons we need to reduce the use of fossil fuels and the production of electricity with fossil fuels, one of which is that they have major health impacts.

I wonder if the member would like to speak to that.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question and for her well-established expertise on environmental matters.

The Liberal government did indeed drag its feet on all kinds of issues connected to the environment and health. This is why there is yet to be a review of the Hazardous Products Act. This is why products like Roundup, which contains glyphosate and is banned in most countries around the world, is still available on our shelves. Here, in Canada, it is still allowed. This product has health impacts because it can cause cancer.

I think several aspects of the Liberals' environmental record are shameful, and we have not even spoken about biodiversity or the increase in natural disasters, which have an impact on people's lives. I am talking about forest fires and floods, like we saw recently in Quebec. Things could get worse, and the Liberal government shares some responsibility in that.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House of Commons.

For Canadians who do not understand how the process works, we allow opposition parties to propose a few motions per year. The motion from the Conservatives today asks the government “to stop raising the price of gas by clearing the way for pipelines and eliminating the carbon tax on fuel.” This is weak sauce, as we say in politics, simply because while the Conservatives claim to Canadians that they understand how the oil and gas industry works and how the price at the pump works, they put forward motions like this that clearly show their unwillingness to think about the issue fully.

I will give members one example. In 2006, the NDP, then in opposition, asked the then Conservative government to establish a gas ombudsman, someone who would look at the price of gas at gas stations across the country. We have all had the experience that just prior to a long weekend or a significant date, suddenly the price at the gas pump accelerates dramatically. We told the then Conservative government to be consumer friendly and look at how the agencies were sometimes colluding and at how the stop in production at various times throughout the year caused prices to spike, which was fortuitous for the gas companies but a great disadvantage for working-class Canadians.

During their 10 years in office, the Conservatives were not preoccupied or at all concerned about the price at the pump. Now they see a political opportunity to bash away at the current government, which has lost a great deal of credibility as climate champions. I do not think anyone believes the Prime Minister anymore, even if he puts his hand on his heart, that the Liberals truly believe in fighting climate change, because actions speak much louder than words.

It is important to start where the Conservatives and the Liberals have common ground on this issue, because there is actually more common ground than I think Canadians realize.

The Conservatives and the Liberals both believe in Stephen Harper's climate targets. The Conservatives brought them in, and the Liberals are maintaining them as the targets for Canada through the Paris Agreement. As the Auditor General and the commissioner of the environment have pointed out, the Liberals are failing to meet even the Stephen Harper climate targets. In fact, just last year, our carbon footprint went up by 12 million tonnes under the government.

The Liberals keep claiming that they are fighting climate change and are doing all these great things, but the evidence shows that not only is the curve not bending down, it is continuing to turn up. Liberals say do not worry, we will get there.

Another point of agreement is oil and gas subsidies. As members know, again according to the Auditor General's reports, we give the oil and gas industry about $1 billion to $2 billion, depending on the year, in direct subsidies. A lot of Canadians ask why that is. In times of profitability, which is most of the time, this sector makes a lot of money. Why are we subsidizing it?

That is a good question. When Stephen Harper was prime minister, he told the OECD, with hand on heart, that Canada would get rid of them as a country by a particular date. He then did nothing about it.

In the last election, the Liberal Prime Minister told Canadians not to vote for the Conservatives, because they do not believe in climate change. He told Canadians that the Liberals did believe in it and would get rid of subsidies to the oil and gas sector. It is three and half years later. We just saw the last federal Liberal budget, and the oil and gas subsidies remain. The Conservatives and the Liberals are in total agreement.

We asked the federal government, given how much it is spending on subsidizing the oil and gas sector, how much it is spending on the so-called alternatives, which are increasingly cost-efficient, such as wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy and geothermal energy. For three years I have been asking the government for the numbers. What is it spending and encouraging on that side of the ledger? We know what it is spending on oil and gas, but what is it spending on the alternatives. The government will not tell us, and I suspect that the number is not very good.

The last important point for today on which the Liberals and the Conservatives agree is on the expansion of the pipeline sector in Canada for the export of diluted bitumen, particularly with the hope that it will move to Asia.

We export diluted bitumen off the west coast of British Columbia right now. One may think that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was for opening up the Asian market, because we cannot get any oil to the coast. We do get oil to the coast. About 330,000 barrels of oil will go there today. People might think that Asia is grabbing up that oil, thereby increasing the price for all Canadian producers and bringing in more tax. That is not the case. Where does all that oil go?

It goes to the United States. Virtually 95% of the diluted bitumen that hits the west coast goes to the United States. Clearly, expanding that is going to solve, exactly what problem?

Not only are the Liberals and Conservatives in violent agreement on the issue of expanding diluted bitumen exports, which is the lowest, rawest form of oil, the least valued form of oil that we can get for the Canadian economy because it produces the fewest jobs—there is no valued added whatsoever—but the Liberals went out and bought a 65-year-old pipeline for the golden price of $4.5 billion of our money. I love when Liberals say that it is turning a profit, without doing the full accounting of the pipeline. I love that they do not include any of the risk factors that normal business people who do things like accounting normally would.

The Liberals bought a 65-year-old pipeline with the plan to spend another $10 billion to $15 billion. It is such a great pipeline that no one else wanted to buy it. There was not a single oil and gas company anywhere on the planet, not the Americans, Chinese, Brits or the Dutch, that wanted it. It was such a fantastic deal.

Can members imagine wanting to sell their old used car? There is simply no one who wants to buy it except the Canadian government, which says that it got a deal. The beat-up old wreck is one of the best ever, and it is going to keep pouring more money into it.

Imagine that the Liberal government is in the rental movie industry and saying it is going to have better DVDs. Never mind Netflix, it is going to get better signage for its Blockbuster outlets. The Liberals say, “Trust us. This is how it is going to go. We are going to spend your money wisely.”

On all of these things, the Liberals and Conservatives agree. In fact, they have the same targets. They believe in subsidizing the oil and gas sector consistently. They want to increase diluted bitumen to the coast at great cost to our climate. They talk about a carbon price, which is an element of a plan, but it is not a plan in and of itself. We know about this in British Columbia. The B.C. government, back in the Gordon Campbell days, did not just bring in a price on carbon, it brought in a whole bunch of other initiatives.

The Liberals will not tell us how they are going to meet even the Stephen Harper climate targets, because they cannot. They have been in government for three and a half years, and what the Liberals said they were getting elected to fix has become worse by the numbers. There was an increase of 12 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere last year under the so-called climate-fighting government.

When Canadians pull back, they get very concerned. They read the same reports that we all do. There is the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, talking about how, if in 12 years we do not bend the curve dramatically, we are not only headed to 2° or 2.5° of warming, but we will go way beyond that tipping point. We know about the effects on the Arctic. We know the effect of melting ice in the north. We know the effects of increasing intensity of forest fires.

Allow me to speak for a moment directly of my constituency, Skeena—Bulkley Valley in northwestern British Columbia. We broke the record for forest fires two years ago. It was unprecedented. We had never seen anything like the intensity of the burns. We had almost every fire region in the province alerted with fire emergencies. The scope of it was something we had never seen before. Then, we broke the record again last year.

We have some very resource-dependent, hard-working, quite conservative communities in my riding. We had forest firefighters who had been in the business for 30 years, not exactly the tree-hugging David Suzuki types, coming to me and saying that these fires were different. They had been fighting these fires for three decades, and they had never before seen the intensity that they were seeing. They said that the normal patterns of the fires were different. The scale and speed and scope of what they were seeing was different, and it is the climate.

Farmers are not understanding how the precipitation works anymore, because we do not get the snowfall we used to get, or the consistent patterns.

We have seen flooding. The city of Ottawa, where Parliament exists, declared a state of climate emergency. We are watching flood patterns change. The 100-year floods, 500-year floods, are happening every two years.

This is exactly what was predicted. The only thing that the global climate scientists were wrong about is that they thought it would not start happening until 2030 or 2040. Here we are, not even in 2020, and it is happening now.

If members want to debate gas prices, that is fine; we can talk about that. Let us talk about companies that gouge Canadians at the pump. If members want to talk about carbon pricing, that is fine; we can talk about that. However, it has to be in a plan that gets us to where we need to go. As we know, Canadians use more energy per capita and produce more greenhouse gases per capita than any other country in the world.

We have a lot to account for. We cannot continue to stand on the world stage, waggle our finger at other countries and say to be more like Canada. That is not a solution today. However, it should be a solution for the future, and I think the NDP will bring forward that green and bold new plan that will fulfill that promise.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, there are a number of so-called facts that the member opposite has put on the record this morning that I would call into question. Unfortunately, I do not have that much time in terms of my question.

Having said that, I believe the debate that is going to be talked about at great length over the summer and into the election in October is on one of the most significant environmental policies that has been debated over the last year or so. The Conservatives have yet to come to the table with their ideas and action plan. What we have put in place is a national price on pollution. It is a significant policy, which will have a profoundly positive impact, not only today but into the future on the Canadian environment. This is a government that is not only listening to what Canadians are saying but is in fact acting on it.

I wonder if my colleague across the way can recognize the importance of this one initiative. Many other things he has raised are somewhat debatable, but at least on this initiative, what would he and the New Democratic Party do? Would they want to increase or decrease the price on pollution? What are his reflections in terms of the official opposition, whose members are saying that they will get rid of it?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, we can see how the member does this. He said that I have a number of facts wrong but will not tell me what they are.

I talked about the IPCC report, the Auditor General of Canada, and the commissioner of the environment, which has audited the Liberal performance on climate and found it disastrous. I was able to say that the Stephen Harper target in the Paris Agreement is the same one that the Liberals are maintaining but cannot meet. I have laid out some facts, which he says are wrong or disputable but does not name any of them. He does not present his own facts. To the hon. member, I will say the statement again, which is so often apt for him: He is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts. The fact of the matter is that this is the Liberal record on climate. Own it.

These guys want to have a culture war in the next election about climate change, but only about the carbon tax. The Conservatives want to say no, and the Liberals want to say yes, as if that were the only thing we needed to wrestle with in this country. How much of a failure of ambition that is from the Liberal government, which came in with such a strong mandate to do something about this. A carbon price is important but not the only thing, obviously, because the Liberals are failing on their own weak promises at the Paris climate agreements.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague on his speech advocating for the environment and against pipelines. Could he tell us what led to the change in his party's position in that area?

During the last election campaign, that party's position was more ambiguous. When NDP members were speaking English, they were often pro-pipeline, but in French, it was the opposite. This led the member for Berthier—Maskinongé to say that, on the contrary, they were neither for nor against energy east. Then their position changed. Some people even said that Thomas Mulcair lost the leadership because he was not pro-oil enough.

I would like to know what led my colleague's party to change its position.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I am a little surprised to hear him say that an NDP candidate was in favour of pipelines and energy east. Maybe he was talking about the leader of the Liberal Party or the leader of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives are decidedly in that camp. One need only look at their plan, which is not really a plan at all.

If we want a stable economy that does not solely benefit Alberta, Canada or Quebec, building another pipeline is not the solution. We do not export enough crude oil, not to mention the labour shortage and tariffs. If we want to improve the overall economy, we need to focus on all of our natural resources, and not just build another pipeline to China or the U.S. That is not the solution.

It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It does not work, but that is the Liberal Party's approach.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to this official opposition motion concerning gas and natural resource development. I am also very pleased to inform the House that I will be splitting my time with the member for Lakeland, who I am certain will give a passionate speech like the ones we have become accustomed to hearing from her over the past three years.

Everybody gets up in the morning saying that we must stop polluting, we must save our planet and the future of the environment is important. The difference is that some believe we must tax people to reach this objective while others believe that we need to help people so we can get there.

The Conservative Party's policy is to help people and businesses pollute less. Just 10 days ago, in Victoriaville, our leader stated that he will soon unveil our environmental platform to Quebeckers and Canadians. We already know that this platform will focus on technologies and on exporting Canadian hydroelectricity know-how and other innovative technologies developed in Canada. Most importantly, concrete and positive measures will be introduced to help Canadians and businesses pollute less.

This government prefers to keep piling on the taxes instead.

The Liberal policy is not environmental policy, it is tax policy. Instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it raises taxes on Canadians. Later on, I will come back to the highly questionable theory that taxing what they call pollution could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Liberal plan, which was released two years ago and has been in effect since April, creates a tax on pollution, but not on all forms of it. For some reason, the big companies emitting the most pollution are exempt from the Liberal carbon tax. However, parents who have to drive their kids around, people who need to drive to work and people who do not have access to public transit because of their daily routine, their activities and their geographic location are not exempt. Quebeckers are also feeling the effects of the Liberal carbon tax, because all goods brought in by truck or other means of transportation are getting more expensive. The Liberal carbon tax is fuelling higher gas prices, and this has a direct impact on how much consumers have to pay for products.

What is more, the price that is currently being taxed could go up significantly. When we were in power, we called for a study to determine what the real cost would be to the public if there was a carbon tax. Their document was supposedly made public when this government was sworn in. We wanted to obtain that document. When we get to the details of the results, they are redacted. We see nothing at all. The reality and facts about how much the Liberal carbon tax would cost consumers were totally obscured.

The fact that major polluters will not have to pay this tax is another display of this government's hypocrisy. It makes no sense. In fact, the only environmental plan the Liberals had to offer was to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline at a cost of $4.5 billion.

There are two things I never thought I would see in my lifetime. First, I never would have imagined that the Liberals would cancel the credit that we Conservatives had created to help people use public transit. I never would have guessed the Liberals would do that. Second, I never would have thought that a government with the least bit of intelligence would take $4.5 billion of taxpayers' money and hand it over to an American company in Houston for a pipeline. It is an idea so ridiculous that only the Liberals could have cooked it up. That is the legacy associated with those folks across the aisle, who, let us hope, will no longer be in government six months from now.

As for taxation, the Liberals keep saying that it is the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but that is not true. The facts speak for themselves. It does not work. Look at Quebec, where, for the past three or four years, we have had what is known as a carbon exchange, another form of the Liberal carbon tax.

The carbon exchange has been in place in Quebec for some time now. An analysis of it was done, based on real, concrete results, using real people in real life, in a real situation in an actual Canadian province, Quebec.

What were the results? The document I have here was tabled in the Quebec National Assembly on November 29 by the Premier of Quebec. The Standing Orders prevent me from showing it to members, but it is entitled “Inventaire québécois des émissions de gaz à effet de serre en 2016 et leur évolution depuis 1990”. It is a report on Quebec's environmental footprint, particularly as it pertains to the carbon exchange, which is a way of taxing pollution. What were the results? I would like to quote the Premier of Quebec, who said the following before the Quebec National Assembly on November 29:

...the only numbers we have right now are those for 2016. They show that, over the past two years, from 2014 to 2016, there has been no reduction in GHG emissions. On the contrary, GHG emissions have increased.

He went on to say, and I quote:

This report shows that Quebec produced 78.4 megatonnes of emissions in 2014, 78.55 megatonnes in 2015 and 78.56 megatonnes in 2016, so we can see that emissions are rising.

The Premier of Quebec said this based on a report on Quebec's carbon exchange prepared by the Quebec Department of the Environment. The result is that there has been no drop at all in GHG emissions.

Now the Liberals want to lecture us, saying that we are against putting a price on pollution and that we want to continue polluting everything. First of all, they are hypocrites, since they are not taxing the biggest polluters. Second, pollution pricing has no effect on reducing greenhouse gases. Quebec's experience speaks for itself. On May 5, 2015, when he was leader of the second opposition group, the current Premier of Quebec published a news release calling the carbon exchange a new $100 tax on the middle class.

That is why we believe that taxing people to reduce pollution is not the right thing to do. It does not work. If we want to reduce pollution, we must implement incentives to encourage people to pollute less, such as the tax credit we created for bus riders. The Liberals abolished that initiative. We must help people manage their pollution better. That is a smart solution. We must help businesses pollute less instead of taxing them. That is an effective solution. At the very least, we should not say that we want to put a price on pollution and then avoid taxing the biggest polluters.

That brings me to the whole pipeline business. As I said earlier, the Liberals’ expertise in pipelines amounts to taking $4.5 billion of taxpayers’ money and sending it to the United States. It is ludicrous. It is patently ridiculous and unacceptable.

Quebec knows about pipelines. There have been pipelines in Quebec since 1942. The first was built between Montreal and Maine to export oil in order to help defend Europe against the Nazi menace. There are currently 2,000 kilometres of pipeline in Quebec. Nine pipelines run under the St. Lawrence River. In 2012, we built and inaugurated a brand-new pipeline between Lévis and Montreal. It is 248 kilometres long and pass through one of the most densely populated areas in the province. It runs under 630 lots and 26 waterways, including the St. Lawrence River, but it works. There are 2,000 kilometres of pipeline in Quebec. Nine pipelines run under the St. Lawrence. We built a 248-kilometre pipeline just a few years ago, and it works.

The planes in Dorval use four million litres of fuel every day. How does the fuel get to Dorval? It is not transported by train or by truck, but by pipeline. Yes, we have pipelines in Quebec, and no one has been killed. We are aware that things need to be done properly, and we are capable of doing that.

I would like to point out that, in our opinion, the energy east project is dead and buried. Building pipelines is not the government's job. It is up to private companies to build pipelines in a respectful way. That being said, the energy east project is dead, and we need to be clear on that. We are not afraid of pipelines, and we certainly do not try to frighten people over them.

No, my main issue is that in Quebec we have experience with putting a price on so-called carbon pollution, experience with what I would call the Liberal carbon tax.

We have a cap and trade system in Quebec, which has existed for four years, and we have data on that. The data was tabled by the Premier of Quebec on November 29, a few months ago, at the National Assembly, and it is crystal clear. I cannot show the document to the House now, but I will table it after my speech if members would like me to.

The document is published by the environmental ministry of Quebec, the Quebec government. It is crystal clear regarding the real effects of the cap and trade system we have in Quebec. The results for 2014, 2015 and 2016 show zero lowered greenhouse gas emissions. This is the reality.

We are not talking about a study by people who think they are right because they are right; no, we are talking about reality. We have experience with the cap and trade system in Quebec, which is like the Liberal carbon tax, and the reality is that there has been no decrease in pollution.

Our plan is very clear. It will help people reduce their pollution and it will help businesses reduce their pollution. Based on our technology and our Canadian experience in exporting our knowledge, we will do that six months from now when people realize we need a strong Conservative government in Canada.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, we have a government that is committed to sustainable development. It understands and appreciates that they go hand in hand. If we want to move forward on healthy economic growth, we need to take into consideration the importance of our environment and working with the many different stakeholders. That is something this government has been committed to doing.

On the price on pollution, I believe it is really important for the Conservative Party to realize this is not absolutely new. The concept of a price on pollution comes from the Paris agreements, and many other countries around the world have recognized the value of putting a price on pollution.

It is interesting that when Doug Ford became the Premier of Ontario, it gave new life to the Harper Conservatives here in the House of Commons. It is almost as if they have been inspired by Doug Ford to ignore the environment and deal only with the economy and leave it with the economy.

Does the member opposite not recognize that if we want to advance the economy, there is a responsibility on our part also to take into consideration the environment? Having a price on pollution is the way many other countries around the world are taking action. Why should Canada not have a national price on pollution?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, it is a real pleasure to respond to my friend from Vancouver North. I deeply appreciate his passion, even if yesterday was not very passionate for the Liberals, especially in British Columbia.

Let me make this point: It does not make sense to put a price on pollution to reduce pollution. What is that based on? It is based on the Quebec experience. We are not talking about another country somewhere else; we are talking about the other side of the Ottawa River. That is where I live. Quebec has had a cap and trade system for the last four years. Based on the Quebec government's document, which was tabled by the Premier of Quebec on November 29, the results for greenhouse gas emissions for the years of 2014, 2015 and 2016 were zero lower emissions. There was a 0.1% increase in emissions. Therefore, without a shadow of a doubt, based on the Quebec experience, taxing pollution does not reduce pollution.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, almost four years later, all Canadians are waiting with bated breath for the Conservatives' climate plan. We are wondering if it is going to be exactly the same as the Harper carbon control plan, which was through the use of regulation. However, can we guess which sector they never got around to dealing with? It was the oil and gas sector. Can we guess which is the greatest source of greenhouse gases and pollution, including benzene, mercury et al? It is the oil and gas sector.

I wonder if the member could speak to this aspect. The Conservatives are fine with speaking against the carbon tax, but today we have not heard them speak to the matter my colleague spoke to, the escalating price of fuel for our cars, which has nothing to do with the price of carbon, even in Alberta. Whatever happened to that proposal to regulate the emissions from the oil and gas sector?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent has one minute to respond.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, when we were in office it was a real pleasure to address this issue. We had policies that directly affected the oil and gas sector and were in fact more severe on that sector.

However, let us look at the future. Our party will table a plan. We will emphasize helping people instead of taxing them. The Liberal approach is to tax people, not the big polluters. The best way to help reduce pollution is to help Canadian families reduce their footprint and help businesses to pollute less.

Based on our experience, especially with hydroelectricity in Quebec, we achieved great things. We want to export it worldwide.

Let us see what the plan will be. People will support it.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Madam Speaker, the current Liberal government is making life more expensive for middle-class Canadians at a time when the majority of families can least afford it. The average middle-class family is already paying over $800 more in taxes because of the Liberals' tax hikes, while the wealthiest 1% of Canadians, of course, pay less. Almost half of Canadians are currently within $200 of not being able to pay their bills at the end of the month, and now the Liberals have decided to increase the cost of everything with their job-killing carbon tax.

When asked if Canadians were going to pay higher costs for fuel, the Prime Minister said that was “exactly what we want”, because of course he does not have to worry about money. It does not matter if they are talking about fruit or vegetables, meat, dairy, diapers or formula. Every single product in Canada is going to be more expensive because everything is shipped on planes, trains and transport trucks that use fossil fuels.

Canadians, particularly rural Canadians, do not have alternatives to paying the carbon tax, so life just gets more expensive. That is why the Liberals have a tax plan and not an environmental plan. They tax Canadians who have no other real options. The Liberal carbon tax is universally regarded as too low to actually reduce emissions or cause a wholesale transition, but high enough to make Canada less competitive, to drive jobs and businesses to other countries without carbon taxes, and to be yet another layer of costs and red tape the government is imposing on families and on the private sector in Canada. Who is going to pay this tax? Everyone will pay it, and it will hurt middle-class families, Canadians with low and fixed incomes, the working poor and rural Canadians the most.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer pointed out that major emitters will pay only 8% of the total revenue collected by the Liberal carbon tax, leaving the remaining 92% for families and small businesses to pay through higher gas, grocery and home heating costs. Thankfully, a Conservative government would give every single Canadian a 100% exemption from the carbon tax by cancelling it.

If the carbon tax does not hike gas and diesel prices enough, then Canadians will be shocked to hear about the potential costs of the new Liberal fuel standard. That new policy will force refineries and natural gas suppliers to incorporate higher percentages of renewable fuels or to provide credits to electric car owners for reducing emissions. In short, it will increase the price of gasoline, diesel and natural gas for cars, trucks, homes, businesses and factories.

I asked both the environment minister and the natural resources minister just last week how much the clean fuel standard, CFS, will raise the cost of a litre of diesel, but neither of them had an answer. The environment department's website confirms that there are “no models within the Department designed to model emission reductions, credit supply or economic impacts of a CFS policy in detail”. Therefore, just like with the carbon tax, the Liberals cannot say if their fuel standard will actually reduce emissions. They do not know how much damage this policy will do to the Canadian economy and how much it will cost individual Canadians. However, they are still moving forward with it and planning to announce regs this spring.

The kicker is that the Liberals' own analysis showed what Conservatives have been warning for years: that their carbon tax will kill jobs and businesses in Canada. Big companies' operations are emissions intensive, and they cannot pass through their carbon costs while they compete internationally. Therefore, the Liberals have provided them with 80% to 95% exemptions from the $20-a-tonne carbon tax, so that these businesses can, in the environment minister's words, stay competitive and keep good jobs in Canada.

Even so, not a single Canadian refinery in provinces where the Liberal carbon tax backstop applies can meet the 20% reduction standard set by the Liberals. In fact, of the 200 refineries in OECD countries, only 10% would be able to meet the standard. Canadian refiners will simply all be forced to increase the price of fuel in order to purchase credits, because the Liberal approach is not an environmental plan; it is a tax plan.

However, there is no exemption for these same businesses from the Liberals' fuel standard. The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada says it will be the equivalent of a $200 a tonne carbon tax. Other private sector proponents and economists warn it will be anywhere between $150 and $400 a tonne combined with the carbon tax. It is the first of its kind in the entire world, because the Liberals aim to apply it to solid and gaseous fuels and to industry buildings and facilities, not only to transportation fuels. It is a reckless, risky experiment that the Liberals are rushing through, with consultations actually taking place now, five months after they announced the policy. The reality is that the Liberal fuel standard will potentially cost 10 times the full price of the Liberal carbon tax, which the Liberals have already admitted will kill jobs and businesses in Canada.

More and more Canadians are beginning to realize the importance of the oil and gas sector for every community across the country. It is in fact the largest private sector investor in the Canadian economy. Canada's responsible resource development is the major factor behind closing the gap between the wealthy and the poor in Canada.

Energy in the form of oil and gas is Canada's top export, at $125 billion in 2018. To put that in context, that is 65% more than the value of automotive exports. Electricity exports were $3 billion, almost a rounding error compared to oil and gas exports.

Just this month, Canadians found out that because the Liberals cancelled the energy east and northern gateway pipelines and are delaying the Trans Mountain expansion, oil producers lost $20 billion in sales this last year alone. Over 115,000 oil and gas workers have lost their jobs, in addition to the tens of thousands of family businesses and individual contracting jobs that have collapsed. Another 12,500 jobs will be lost this year, and over $100 billion in energy projects have been cancelled since 2015.

Canada, literally the world's most responsible energy-producing country, is now the only top 10 oil producer in the world with a carbon tax. Under the Liberals, more energy investment in Canada has been lost than at any other time in more than seven decades. This is a result of policy, not external factors.

The consequences for the entire Canadian economy, for every government and for every community across the country will be significant. It will mean less money for pensions, health care, schools, social programs, charities and recreation. It will mean fewer jobs for highly skilled young Canadians and experienced industry leaders, and fewer opportunities for indigenous communities. It will have especially detrimental impacts for rural and remote regions, where economic opportunities are limited and where natural resources development is often the only source of income.

The Conservatives know how to set the conditions for the private sector to develop major energy infrastructure. Under the previous Conservative government, the only two proposals for pipelines exclusively for export beyond the U.S. were proposed because companies had confidence in investing in Canada. As well, four major pipelines were constructed under the previous Conservative government.

The reality is that when the Liberals took office in 2015, three companies wanted to build major pipelines in Canada, and today every single one of them is gone. The Prime Minister outright cancelled northern gateway, even though he had the option to redo indigenous consultations and get it right. Then he imposed delays and a double standard on energy east, which were deliberately designed to force the private sector builder to back out. TMX, of course, remains stalled because of Liberal mistakes.

The lack of pipeline capacity is related to increased gasoline prices in British Columbia. B.C. refineries cannot get enough crude or refined petroleum through the existing pipelines, which is, in fact, why British Columbians are facing record prices at the pumps. This is the obvious and logical result of blocking pipelines, and the Liberals want to replicate it across Canada.

Canada has never had an anti-oil and gas government like the current Liberal government. There is the ban on shipping oil on B.C.'s north coast, which the Liberals announced a month after the 2015 election. There is the power they gave themselves just before Christmas, to do the same thing on every other coast in Canada. There was the removal of the new oil and gas well exploration and drilling tax credit during the height of catastrophic oil and gas job losses, while allowing the foreign funding of anti-energy activists to stop Canadian resources and block Canadian pipelines. There was even the funding of these activists with Canadian tax dollars through the Canada summer jobs program last summer on top of the government's “no more pipelines” Bill C-69, and, finally, the virtually unilateral banning of offshore oil and gas exploration and development just a couple of weeks ago. These are all examples of the layers and layers of Liberal anti-energy policies that are causing such uncertainty and killing businesses and jobs.

It makes no sense whatsoever, because the International Energy Agency predicts that global oil and gas use will climb for decades. We are home to the world's third-largest crude oil reserves, and we are the fifth-largest producer of natural gas, with enough supply to meet our own needs for the next 300 years. It makes no sense whatsoever for Canada not to be able to produce all sources of energy and ship it to global markets, because, by all measures, Canada is and has long been the most environmentally and socially responsible oil and gas producer in the world. Every time a resource project or a pipeline is cancelled in Canada, that money and those jobs go to other countries with much lower environmental, consultation, transparency, safety, labour, and civil and human rights standards than Canada.

Canada's energy industry is an environmental leader. The intensity of emissions from Canada's oil sands has fallen significantly over the last several years and will continue to decline. In fact, half of the commonly traded crude oils in the United States have the same or higher emissions than the average Alberta-produced crude oil. The increase in Canadian oil and gas production will actually lower predicted global emissions growth if Canadian oil can displace higher-emitting sources of oil and gas around the world.

In short, the world needs more Canadian energy, not less. The question for Canada is whether our country will continue to be a world-leading resource and energy producer. Do we want to play a leading role in that responsible production or allow countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia to supply the world's increasing energy needs?

The choice is clear. The responsible development of Canada's oil and gas is good for Canadian workers and it is good for the planet.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I always find it interesting, when we have the debates on pipelines and the environment, that we often see a consistency coming from the Conservative Party. Its members are very critical and say that we are never doing enough to build pipelines, and then we have the opposite criticism coming from the New Democrats, who are saying we are not doing enough on the environment. We need to recognize that the environment and economic development, particularly with our commodities, go hand in hand. This government has recognized it and understands that we need to work with the many stakeholders.

It is also important to note, after listening to the speech of the member opposite, that for the 10 years during which Stephen Harper was prime minister, not one inch of pipeline was actually constructed that would take our product to tidewater. That is the reality. When he was prime minister, over 99% was going to the United States, and when he ceased to be prime minister, over 99% was going to the United States. Therefore, Conservative governments talk a big game, but when it comes to turning that talk into reality, they fail to do so.

Why does the member opposite believe that the Harper government was unable to get a pipeline constructed in any fashion that would take the product to tidewater or to new markets?

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that, because it is simply not true. Of course, the Anchor Loop, which expanded the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, was approved and constructed under the previous Conservative government and increased access for Canada to the Asia Pacific. Keystone I, which was approved and constructed under the former Conservative government, took Albertan and western Canadian crude oil to the Gulf. Also, the only two recent proposals by the private sector to diversify Canada's market beyond the United States were made under the previous Conservative government. They were the northern gateway pipeline, which Conservatives approved and then the current Prime Minister killed, and the application for the energy east pipeline, which was going through the approval process during the switch of government.

However, the Liberals, for all their talk about evidence, science, facts and regulatory experts making decisions, campaigned on attacking both Canada's world-renowned National Energy Board and Canada's track record as the most environmentally responsible and highest-regulated energy producer in the entire world. They froze all of those applications, disbanded the National Energy Board, and then meddled, interfered and created a double standard on the energy east pipeline, killing the opportunity for Canada to have a west-east pipeline across this country that is built by, operated and maintained in the private sector.

Therefore, the track record of the Conservative government is very clear: economic growth with the highest environmental standards in the world, and major energy infrastructure being completed and continuing to be proposed.

The track record of the Liberals is exactly the opposite: nothing for the environment, and bad for energy and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians whose livelihoods depend on it. There is also the loss of major opportunities for—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am going to have to cut the hon. member off, because other people want to ask questions.

The hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a very strong consensus among the people of Vancouver Kingsway, whom I have been honoured to represent for over 10 years, that we are extremely concerned about climate change. We saw the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which puts it in stark terms. We have 11 years to make a 45% reduction over 2010 levels. I think we can all remember how much carbon we were putting in the air in 2010. We literally have to halve that in the next 11 years, or we face catastrophic effects. We face the melting of the polar ice caps, and we face the loss of 99% of the world's coral reefs. Just last week we saw a report come out that said the world is facing the extinction of one million species.

Placed against that context, we have the Liberals and the Conservatives fighting over who is going to get a pipeline built to triple the bitumen exports to China more quickly. The Liberal government keeps saying there is no contest between the environment and the economy. I agree with that, but there is a contest between reducing carbon emissions and expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. Therefore, I would ask my hon. colleague how she proposes to meet those Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets, make those reductions and at the same time expand Canada's fossil fuel infrastructure.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, here is the reality. There is no border on emissions. This is a global challenge. It makes no sense for Canada to hamper itself and to destroy our economy while major emitting and irresponsible energy producers around the globe continue to ramp up.

That is exactly the choice. If we care about action on the environment and reducing emissions, Canada must and can play a major role in making that contribution federally. The keys will be technology, innovation, private sector investment to stop the brain drain, conservation and real environmental measures to protect the air, water and land, about which every single Canadian agrees.

What does not make sense is the Liberal approach, which is a tax plan, a revenue generating plan and no real environmental action at all.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in this chamber to offer my thoughts on the motion before Parliament. Today's motion purports to be about the price of gas, and connects it to our environmental plan and pipeline capacity in Canada. I am sure that the member who put the motion forward understands that regulating the price of gas is not within the federal government's purview and notwithstanding the recent debates we have dealt with on our plan to put a price on pollution.

However, what the motion is really about is affordability, our environmental plan and pipeline capacity. I hope to address each of these issues. I will start first with a subject that is very important to me, which is the need to have an effective plan to combat climate change and ensure that Canada does its share to help reduce its emissions to prevent some of the catastrophic consequences we have heard about.

It is perhaps trite to begin by saying that climate change is real and we have an obligation and an opportunity to do something about it. We see extreme weather events across Canada and around the world. Whether it is the recent floods in eastern Canada or forest fires in the west, we have a number of consequences being felt very directly in our country.

We know from a recent Environment Canada report entitled “Canada's Changing Climate” that Canada is experiencing warming at twice the global rate. I do not mean to suggest that this has to be a story of doom and gloom, because there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We know that if we adopt smart policies today, we can achieve reductions in our emissions that will prevent the most severe consequences from coming to pass. It is in that spirit that I would be happy to outline some of the measures we are implementing to ensure Canada does its part in the global fight to combat climate change.

The plan we have put forward and have been working on for the last numbers of years, implementing piece by piece, one after the other, has over 50 measures. We are going to have 90% of our electricity generated from clean resources by 2030. On that same schedule, we will have phased coal out as a source of electricity in Canada. We are making investments in energy efficiency for small organizations, homeowners and large organizations to help everyone in Canada pull in the same direction to bring their contribution to our emissions level down.

We are investing in green technology and green infrastructure. We are making the largest investments in the history of public transit in our country, to encourage more people to ride mass transit in order to take more cars off Canadian roads. We are making electric vehicles more affordable with recent measures included in budget 2019. As well, we are investing in helping to train the workforce in industries that are converting toward cleaner technologies, for instance, coal workers.

Of course, we are moving forward with a plan to put a price on pollution, which I have talked about at length in this House on a number of occasions. I want to take this opportunity to help educate the public on what this policy does. We hear a lot of noise coming from one side and the other, and I find we are in this bad habit of talking past one another rather than engaging in the merits of the policy in a substantive way.

What we are planning is not some policy idea that came out of an exclusively Liberal room. We have engaged with experts to figure out the most effective thing we could do in order to reduce our emissions. I point members to the winner of last year's Nobel Prize in economics, who won the prize for developing a plan that more or less mirrors what we are trying to do. It is one that would put a price on pollution but return the revenues collected directly to residents in the area where the price applies. Relying on advice of folks like the winner of last year's Nobel Prize in economics, we have moved forward with a plan to do just that: put a price on pollution and return the revenues to Canadians in the jurisdiction where it applies.

We started out by trying to negotiate with the different provinces and territories to find a plan that would work for them. Where the provincial or territorial government would not play a leadership role and enforce a minimum standard of price stringency, we said that a federal backstop would apply. This path is one that has garnered support from folks who are usually on the opposite side of the aisle from the Liberal Party of Canada. It has garnered support from the likes of Mark Cameron, Stephen Harper's former director of policy, who has been advocating for a fee and dividend system for some time.

It has garnered the support of one of Doug Ford's advisers, although it has been walked back a little. If we look at the testimony of one of Doug Ford's budget advisers who testified before the Senate, he said that the most effective thing we can do to transition to a low-carbon economy is to put a price on carbon emissions.

We can look at Conservative stalwarts like Preston Manning, who is urging his colleagues to stop fighting progress on the environment and adopt a market-based model to bring emissions down.

I would also like to draw attention to the recent decision of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. It did not deal with the political issue but dealt with the legality and constitutionality of our plan. In identifying it as a national concern, a minimum standard being applied by the federal government and provinces that would not come to the table, it spoke to the effective and essential nature of GHG pricing in the global effort to reduce emissions.

What it said was that carbon pricing is not just part and parcel of an effective plan to reduce emissions but an essential aspect. It put that in italics to draw the attention of the reader, that it is an essential aspect of the global effort to reduce emissions to prevent the consequences of climate change. It went further to explain that because of the global nature of the problem, it requires countries like Canada to engage on the international stage to adopt international agreements that would identify a strategy to bring our emissions down.

It pointed to the Paris Agreement. It stated that in a country like Canada, it would obviously be difficult to meet the targets outlined in an international agreement like the Paris Agreement if some provinces refused to put forward a minimum pricing standard. It surveyed the evidence, and there was no question that the record before the court demonstrated that GHG pricing was both effective and essential if we are going to achieve meaningful reductions in our emissions.

It is important to recognize that our plan does not simply put a price on pollution, but it makes life more affordable for a vast majority of Canadians. In provinces where our plan applies, namely Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, because big emitters also contribute to the revenues that are collected, families are left better off. In Saskatchewan, through the climate action incentive this year, when residents of that province filed their taxes, they would have received $609. That would more than offset any costs associated with our price on pollution. In Ontario, the number is a little more than $300. In New Brunswick, it is a little more than $250. In Manitoba, I think the number is $339. That goes directly to families.

We have a plan that has demonstrated an essential aspect of the global effort to reduce emissions. We have found a way, based on expert evidence such as the plan put forward by last year's Nobel Prize winner in economics, that will leave families better off at the end of the day. This is a win-win situation. Despite some of the noise that we hear from opponents of the plan who are trying to grab lightning for political purposes, when we dig into the facts, it is impossible to ignore that this is an effective policy. It is going to do the right thing for our environment and reduce emissions as well.

One of the things I am concerned with is that we have spent so much time on this one policy that Canadians may not understand it is one of 50 policy planks we have implemented to help reduce emissions. As I mentioned, 90% of our electricity will be generated from clean resources by 2030. We are phasing out coal and making a large investment in public transit. There are a number of different investments and initiatives we have undertaken that will have a meaningful impact.

The effects of climate change also have a very serious impact on nature and wildlife. I know during one of the questions from an NDP colleague during the previous speaker's turn, he drew attention to the recent UN report that indicated we are facing a potential mass extinction of one million of eight million species in the world. If members look at recent data, they will see that on average about 60% of different vertebrate species have been lost in the last half-century.

Canada is one of five countries in the world that has three-quarters of the world's remaining wilderness. We have an opportunity and an obligation to do whatever we can to protect nature and to fight climate change so we can preserve our natural environment for future generations.

The motion also addresses the issue of pipeline capacity. One of the things I want to draw attention to is that the previous government had a very difficult time getting major projects built, because it did not have an effective environmental assessment process to properly consider the impact of projects. It ended up fighting projects in court rather than building them in the ground.

What we have done is ensure that there is a little more work done at the front end but the timeline is not extended. It gives certainty to businesses, but it also allows environmental considerations and the perspective of indigenous people to inform the process so that we are less likely to be fighting about projects during and after the approval process and can move forward with them.

For example, we are seeking to move forward in the right way on the TMX project, taking in the perspectives of indigenous communities and those who are concerned about the environment to ensure that we can get our resources to market and Canadian producers do not have to consistently take a haircut on the price they get when they export or sell to the United States rather than to customers all over the world.

One of the things I want to focus on during the time I have today is that this motion is really about the affordability of life. There is no concern that is potentially more important to many of the people I represent. I come from a riding where the median income is somewhere in the range of $22,000. Getting by on that kind of income is exceptionally difficult to imagine.

One of the things we have focused on from day one is growing the economy and making sure that the economy operates in a way that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest Canadians.

When we look at our record of economic growth, the results speak for themselves. The Canadian economy since we took office has added over 900,000 jobs, primarily full-time, private sector jobs. Our unemployment rate across the country and in my home province of Nova Scotia is at an all-time low. It is at the lowest level in over 40 years, when we started to keep track of those statistics.

There is something special happening in the Canadian economy today, but it is not happening by accident. It is happening because Canadians are working hard, they are working together and they are benefiting from polices that have created an environment that encourages economic growth.

When I look at the investments we have made in infrastructure, I see that we are building out communities to strengthen them, put people to work and create opportunities for growth in the future.

If I look at the twinning of Highway 104, in my own backyard, between Sutherlands River and Antigonish, what I see is a project that will have 500 people working at peak construction and that will make for safer and more effective transportation for people and businesses going forward.

When I look at investments in things like the Pictou Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, where we helped build a new trades innovation centre, I see the 125 people who were working onsite at peak construction. It is also going to educate the next generation of skilled workers.

When I see investments in the Halifax Stanfield International Airport and a new logistics park and cold storage facility, I know that it is going to help get our products to new markets so that our fishermen can put more money in their pockets and keep rural communities alive.

I see trade deals that create opportunities for local exporters in my community that are actually having a real and tangible benefit for families. There are a number of policies I could point to, examples in my own community, through which people are better off.

On the efforts on international trade, it was not long after we secured market access to our largest trading partner, the United States, that Michelin announced that it would be adding or making permanent a total of 350 jobs at its tire production facility in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

The fact is that we are creating an environment in which the economy can thrive, and Canadians are taking advantage. However, left unchecked, economic growth may not benefit everyone equally. It tends to favour the richest members of society. As the rich get richer, it is important that we put checks and balances in place to ensure that most Canadians are not left behind. That is why we are moving forward with programs like the Canada child benefit. This plan has been a remarkable innovation in social policy that has helped lift over 800,000 Canadians out of poverty, 300,000 of whom are children.

This plan changed the previous government's approach to child support. It puts more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families and stops sending child care cheques to millionaires. The people who need the most, get the most, and the people who have the most, do not need it, so they do not get it.

Frankly, it is not families like mine that need the extra support at the end of the month. I earn a good salary working as a member of Parliament. It is families like the ones I speak to when I knock on their doors who tell me that the cost of food is getting too high, and they are eating less healthy because of it.

When I talk to my constituency staff and they tell me that people have called because their power is about to be shut off in the middle of winter, I know that it is those people who could use a little extra help.

It is not just the Canada child benefit we can point to that is actually helping people who are more vulnerable, ensuring that everyone benefits from the economic success our country has been experiencing. If we look at the support we have added for seniors living in Canada, the beefing up of the guaranteed income supplement is going to help the most vulnerable low-income single seniors by putting almost $1,000 more a year in their pockets.

I spoke to a senior during the last campaign, and she told me that she received an update to the amount she was going to receive. She got a raise of 44¢, and she wrote to the previous prime minister and asked, “Should I save this up for a rainy day, or should I spend it all in one place and host a party for my friends?” To know that individuals like her are going to have up to $947 extra at the end of the year is meaningful, because I know it is going to go to a person who could use the help.

We are looking at programs like old age security. We reverted the age of eligibility from 67 to 65 to ensure that we did not screw up the plans of seniors who have been scheduling their retirement for some time. To ensure that the next generation of seniors can have a secure and dignified retirement, we beefed up the Canada pension plan as well to ensure that their needs will be met after their careers are over.

We can point to investments in the Canada workers benefit that will help Canadians who are working but are struggling to get by because the cost of living has gone up.

These are not the only reforms I can point to. We have made changes to the EI system around parental leave. We have introduced proactive pay equity legislation. We have made investments in health care by transferring more money to the provinces than has ever been transferred before, with carve-outs for mental health and in-home care for seniors. The fact is that we have created a circumstance that not only spurs economic growth but ensures that the most vulnerable Canadians are not left behind in the process.

When I see protests bubbling up around the world in the spirit of the French Revolution, which tried to take down the aristocracy, I know that people are frustrated, and the frustration is real. It is one thing to talk about the number of jobs that have been created in the economy, but unless the people living in my neighbourhood are better off, it does not mean too much.

When I see families that are benefiting from a tax cut, I know that they are doing well, because they are spending it on things like a new outfit for their kids for the first day of school that they may not have been able to afford before. I know that they are spending it on signing their kids up for swimming lessons. I know that they are taking their kids to join the soccer or basketball team, things I benefited from growing up that I took for granted, not realizing that the kids who may have lived next door to me could not afford to take part in those organized sports.

Our entire focus as a government is to help protect the environment and create an economy that is growing and working for everyone, not just the wealthiest Canadians.

I will not be supporting the motion on the floor, because it seemingly is an attempt to mislead Canadians about the economic impact of our plan for the environment. At the same time, the opposition refuses to produce one of its own, and it suggests, somehow, that Canadians are worse off and unable to afford the cost of living, despite the fact that the investments we have made leave them objectively better off.

When it comes to this fact, people do not have to take my word for it. We have an officer of Parliament, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whose job is to ensure that there is transparency in government spending and to explain to the public the real impact of the measures the government has implemented. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated that families under our plan across Canada will be $2,000 better off, and when it comes to our price on pollution, eight out of 10 families will be better off, and the families that will pay more will be restricted to the wealthiest 20% across Canada in the first year of this plan, maxing out at $50 a year for the wealthiest 20% of Canadians.

We are moving forward with a plan that is going to protect our environment, grow the economy and make sure that everyone has a chance to succeed, not just the wealthiest.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will start off where the hon. member ended his speech, with reports that there are Canadians who are at least $100 short by the end of the month.

The member mentioned something very important, which is that it is important to lower taxation for Canadians, but the government has been raising taxes for Canadians. Payroll taxes are up. Every tax is up. The carbon tax is in place. How can the Liberals expect to make life comfortable for Canadians when taxes are on the rise all the time?

The problem is that the government does not realize what it is doing. Liberals are just telling Canadians how good they are and how well they are doing, but the million-dollar question for a government that has been spending billions of dollars since 2015 is where the money is coming from. Where are the Liberals getting the money to give to Canadians? Are they just bribing Canadians out of their own pockets? That is the question for the government.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, there is a fundamental assumption built into the submission the hon. member just made that is completely false. I believe it was designed by the opposition to mislead Canadians.

Unequivocally, the vast majority of Canadians are paying less tax and are better off today than they were when we took office in 2015. There is absolutely no way a person can honestly dispute that fact.

With respect to the economic growth that has taken place, more Canadians are earning an income. That is great. The measures we have put in place demonstrate that Canadian families are better off.

We implemented a middle-class tax cut for Canadians, which reduced income tax for nine million Canadians and raised it for the wealthiest 1%. The opposition voted against that. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families and stopped the sending of child care cheques to millionaires. The opposition voted against that too.

Every time we seek to implement a measure that helps the majority of Canadians who may not be at the top of the food chain, the opposition votes against it. Then its members have the courage to stand up in the House and tell us that Canadians are somehow worse off, which flies in the face of every piece of objective evidence, whether coming from federal departments or the Parliamentary Budget Officer. It is ludicrous.

In my riding, the Canada child benefit puts an average of $6,800 in the pockets of families who receive it. This is a meaningful change, and it makes a difference. Canadians are better off.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Since we are talking about facts and reality, I have a few figures I want to remind him of. The Liberal government weeps crocodile tears whenever it talks about children, the fate of the planet and future generations. Unfortunately, its track record on the environment is nothing short of a disaster. In 2016 and 2017, under the Liberals' watch, greenhouse gas emissions increased by 8 million tonnes. Every year, we get further and further away from the GHG emissions reduction target set by the Harper government. Two years ago, we missed that target by 66 megatonnes. Now the gap has grown to 79 megatonnes, according to the Environment Canada report. The government says it takes this issue seriously, but it took three and a half years for it to put a price on pollution. Meanwhile, GHG emissions continue to go up, and the oil and gas subsidies are still in place.

Why are the Liberals giving $3 billion a year to oil companies? Why are they giving Loblaws $12 million to buy new fridges?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, our record on emissions is trending in the right direction.

I want to point out one fact that I think is important for Canadians to appreciate. In one year, there was an anomaly because of the delays in production after the forest fires in Fort McMurray. This set an artificially low level. However, we are moving in the right direction.

When we implement our measures, we model where we are going to be. I am confident that we are going to meet our Paris Agreement targets. We do not have an option. The targets are set for 2030, and we are going to get there, because frankly, failure is not a consequence I can personally accept, nor can this government.

The hon. member referred to our investment in energy efficiency. I will sometimes sit on a panel on CPAC or CBC with an NDP member of Parliament who says that the NDP supports energy efficiency. However, when we actually make those investments, the NDP members cry foul and find an excuse to argue against them.

We had the officials in the Department of the Environment and Climate Change analyze what applications through the low carbon economy fund would provide the greatest return on investment and the greatest emissions reductions per dollar invested. They highlighted 54 projects. One of them is going to greatly reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, or refrigerants, as most people know them. They are the fastest-growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions across the world today.

This is a serious issue, and we are not going to rest until we have a plan that will have a meaningful impact on reducing our emissions.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague just said that the government intends to comply with the Paris Agreement adopted by COP 21.

Since the last election, oil sands development has increased by 24%, and the investments that have been announced show that it will continue to grow by 8% a year. A year ago, the government announced $19 billion in aid for pipelines and oil production.

I would like to ask the member if this is part of the government's strategy for meeting the climate targets set by COP 21.