Madam Speaker, it is nice to be at adjournment debate with my friend and colleague from the Green Party and Kitchener Centre to discuss how we fight climate change, not just if we fight climate change, which is the conversation we always have with the Conservative Party because it wants to ignore the impacts of climate change.
I will say I was a bit struck by the fact that my friend did not mention that Canada is the first oil- and gas-producing nation to introduce an emissions cap on the oil and gas sector. This is an essential next step, yet we have Premier Danielle Smith spending $7 million of public money that could have been invested to hire new nurses and teachers in Alberta. Instead, she is actually doing equalization. She has hired a Quebec company to drive trucks around Ottawa with big screens on them that say, “scrap the cap”. Well, we will not scrap the cap because we believe in climate action. We believe that oil and gas companies, while essential, because we need energy and the world needs Canadian energy, should not be entitled to unlimited pollution. That is why we have stepped up to say they need to invest some of their $66 billion in profits last year into some climate action, efficiencies and making sure we do not have emissions-intensive barrels of oil.
I would like to congratulate the region of Waterloo and the residents of Kitchener Centre because they have been the recipients of an extraordinary amount of public transit funding over the last couple of years. That is due in part to amazing advocacy from my friends and colleagues here from that region.
I have a couple of quotes to read. The first is from Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, who I have met a couple of times and is a very nice guy. He says that there is now a stable source of funds to help pay for the extension of a light-rail system from Kitchener into Cambridge, and that it is absolutely transformative. He is referring to the $30-billion investment that we recently made in public transit. It is the largest investment the federal government has ever made in public transit in Canada. That is extraordinary. However, I also have to congratulate Kitchener on being early winners in the public transit game. My colleague said there was no funding available until 2026. That is not true. Kitchener was recently awarded over $187 million through a $180-billion fund for public transit, green infrastructure and more social activities and infrastructure in various communities.
We are funding the public transit system the residents of Kitchener Centre need and use regularly. As my colleague said, that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces people's reliance on cars. That is a good thing. People will say, “but buses run on diesel.” Sometimes they do, but not the 11 fully electric vehicles the federal government purchased for the Grand River transit, GRT, system with $6 million through our public transit infrastructure stream. The Waterloo region is extremely well served by our plethora of public transit funding. The website of the region of Waterloo says that GRT is in “collaboration with the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo... thanks to $5 million total in federal and municipal project funding through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.” It is deploying 11 fully electric buses, which is fun. It is great.
I am an electric vehicle enthusiast; I love seeing vehicles on the road that do not need to rely on fossil fuels. “Investing in modern and integrated networks of multi-use trails and pathways that connect to public transit are essential to building healthy and sustainable communities for all Canadians to live, work, and raise their families”. That is from one of my favourite members of Parliament, the hon. member of Parliament for Waterloo. We have worked together a lot. I want to congratulate her on the funding for her region and thank her for her advocacy.