moved that the bill be concurred in.
House of Commons Hansard #298 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was page.
House of Commons Hansard #298 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was page.
Liberal
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
If a member participating in person wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
Liberal
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
Mike Morrice Green Kitchener Centre, ON
Madam Speaker, we remain in a climate crisis, one that requires urgent action if we hope to leave a livable planet for future generations. I rise this afternoon to continue to press the government to do better on its commitment to capping big oil's emissions, following up on a question I asked back in December.
It was over three years ago now, in November 2021, when the Prime Minister first said, “We’ll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net-zero by 2050.” It sounds nice, particularly when emissions from oil and gas in 2021 were 189 megatonnes; this was an increase of 88% since 1990 and 28% of Canada's total emissions.
Beyond the nice words, let us be clear: This commitment, even in its original form, did not follow climate science to begin with. First, it committed to cap only oil and gas emissions, not production. This is a significant issue; if we hope to hold global average temperatures below 1.5°C, with even a 50% chance of doing so, Canada would need to do its fair share of what remains of the global carbon budget to achieve this goal. That would mean we would have to leave 86% of our proven fossil fuel reserves unextracted. Therefore, it is clear that we must address not only emissions but also production as we shift to other energy sources.
Second, net zero by 2050 is not worth the paper it is printed on if we do not do our fair share of what is required to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C in the short term. This means reducing it by at least 60% below 2005 levels by 2030, along with international support in emissions reductions across the Global South, equivalent to another 80% of Canada's 2005 emissions. Nevertheless, in the three years since, the government has continued to weaken and even delay this insufficient announcement.
To start, the emissions reduction plan in 2022 said the cap would decrease oil and gas emissions by 79 megatonnes, to 110 megatonnes, aligning with the 40% reduction from 2005 levels by 2030. As I shared, that is already less than what climate scientists tell us is required. The minister then promised that it would all be done and in place by the end of 2023. All we got by then was a framework for discussion, and it is full of loopholes. Now that 79 megatonnes that were promised dropped by more than half.
Now only 34 megatonnes are projected to be reduced; the government is doing things such as exempting 20 megatonnes from downstream oil refining and pipelines and another 25 megatonnes for compliance flexibilities, which is a code word for buying offsets. Now we know that this weakened cap will not even be in place until 2026. How could this have happened? In the two years since, big oil put forward a full-on campaign, pressing the government with 2,000 meetings. There were three meetings a day, seven days a week, and no days off; clearly, it must have worked.
Will the government put an end to these meetings with big oil, put our children's future ahead of their greed and place a real cap on big oil's emissions?
Julie Dabrusin LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Madam Speaker, the science is clear. Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly and urgently to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, like wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and the associated impacts and costs to human health and infrastructure. It has been frustrating in this place to see most of the debate focused not on how we are going to fight climate change and put our best foot forward, but on a fight with the Conservative opposition about whether there should be a fight at all.
We are committed. Action on climate change is essential to avoid the natural disasters impacting our communities. These disasters impact clean air, damage our homes and workplaces and result in large costs, be it to individuals through increased costs of insurance or to governments to invest in adaptation, cleanup and rebuilding. We owe it to the future generations, our communities, children and grandchildren, to take action. We can do the hard work to fight climate change now, or we can pass on the natural disasters and increased costs to the next generation.
I and the Liberal government believe in the need to take climate action now as an economic necessity and as a matter of generational fairness. Capping and reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector is an essential part of this effort. The oil and gas sector is Canada's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and one of the only parts of the economy where emissions continue to grow.
In December, the federal government published a proposed regulatory framework for the emissions cap for comment. The oil and gas emissions cap will apply to emissions. That is what the atmosphere sees and that is what we must reduce. It will ensure that the sector invests in maximum technically achievable decarbonization to achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030 and to get on a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050.
No other country has capped emissions from oil and gas production. As the world's fourth-largest oil and gas producer, Canada has a responsibility to address these emissions, but it is also important to get the details right: The regulatory process the government is following must be rigorous, open and transparent. Our regulations must be evidence-based with costs and benefits assessed thoroughly.
We are working closely with provinces, indigenous partners, civil society and industry while remaining attuned to considerations such as the need for ongoing investments to significantly decarbonize the sector. We also need to minimize the risk of carbon leakage and avoid Canadian production simply being replaced elsewhere by countries where weaker GHG emissions standards apply. We are committed to a cap on emissions from oil and gas that works, and I hope to be able to provide a further update shortly.
Mike Morrice Green Kitchener Centre, ON
Madam Speaker, I want to start by agreeing with the parliamentary secretary that the debate in this place on climate has been reduced over the last number of months, but we cannot allow this false debate about the carbon tax, which is the most efficient way of taking action on the climate crisis, to take us away from what must be done to follow the science.
The parliamentary secretary spoke about taking action now. On that point, I agree with her as well. The concern is the amount of time it has taken since this commitment was first made. It is true that no other country has a cap, but neither do we still. It has been two and a half years. We need to see this move more quickly, but we also need to see it be stringent enough. We need to see these loopholes eliminated to ensure the reductions come at least even closer to what we must do to follow the climate science between now and 2030.
To follow up, will she commit to pressing the government to reduce its meetings with big oil, which have only gone up in the time since and which have happened at the same time as these loopholes have increased, and will—
Oil and Gas IndustryAdjournment Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
Madam Speaker, I take issue with any implication that we are not fully committed to taking action on climate change and that we are not battling every single day to make sure that it is not only done but done right, done right by Canadians, done right by Canadian industries and done right to make sure we have the jobs of the future for Canadians, which is exactly what we have been voting on in this place for the past day.
We are committed to continuing the work. We have put forward a framework for an oil and gas cap, and it will be put in place. I look forward to the member opposite working to make sure that happens.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Madam Speaker, I am returning to a question I put forward in the House during question period back on November 22. It deals with something compelling, which is Canada's preparedness for extreme weather events, particularly fires, floods and storms of all kinds, and how the government could better prepare for them.
Certainly, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness and I have talked about this, and I would get the sense no one is against it. My argument then and now is that we are not prepared for extreme weather events of all kinds. I come from a province where 619 people died in four days in the heat dome. They were all preventable deaths. We have lost billions of dollars of infrastructure in the atmospheric rivers.
We have had extreme weather events and storms that have cost lives. We talk about human lives a lot. Many in this chamber may not know that, in the heat dome in the summer of 2021, three billion sea creatures died. Residents in my community who were dealing with unbearable heat went to the ocean to cool off, only to retreat because of the stink, and they wondered why it smelt so bad. It was because three billion sea creatures died.
If we are going to be prepared, we have to talk to each other. I have talked to people such as Barbara Roden, who is the mayor of Ashcroft, B.C. She told me that, for emergency preparedness, she realized that they were going to have to evacuate the seniors long-term care homes, so she said to get the school buses organized. However, in her regional district, some school boards decided not to keep insuring the school buses when the schools were not in session and kids were not going to school.
That is the kind of information we need to share with each other because some school districts keep insuring their school buses. The federal government could set up an emergency preparedness fund that canvassed every province, territory and indigenous community to see if the school buses were insured year-round because we may need them. We may need to use them when there are extreme fire warnings or extreme flood warnings.
My argument here in this place is not partisan. We need to pull together a standing committee on emergency preparedness that would do things such as exchange stories of best practices and figure out how to better prepare. We need to be talking to people, such as those from places like the First Nations' Emergency Services Society in Kamloops and former chief of the Kanaka Bar first nation Patrick Mitchell. There are communities that figured out how to take care of themselves early and how to rebuild faster. There are communities that know where the vulnerable people are and to rescue those people.
Severe wind storms, hurricanes, floods, fires and heat domes are now inevitable. We need to understand climate better. We need to understand that we need carbon pricing, policy and to reduce greenhouse emissions. We are at a point now where we cannot turn back the clock, and we cannot get back the hospitable climate we once had. We have to make sure we do not get into such a bad situation that we are in a climate in which we cannot survive, one that has become acutely lethal. We need to plan ahead for things. What happens if the power goes out at the same time that we have a heat dome? As Professor Blair Feltmate from the University of Waterloo has said, if the power had gone down during the 2021 heat dome in British Columbia, thousands would have died, not hundreds.
We are almost out of time, all of us, but there is still time to act. We need to pull together and act like this is the emergency that it really is.
Emergency PreparednessAdjournment Proceedings
Toronto—Danforth Ontario
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Madam Speaker, because it is really important and I hear what the member is saying, I want to reach out and say that our thoughts are with Canadians who have been feeling the brunt of the impacts of climate change and its natural disasters, be it through wildfires, floods, droughts or other disasters that have taken place over the last decade. It is also very important that I take this moment to thank firefighters and first responders, who are literally putting their lives at risk every day to help Canadians and support us through these moments.
It is important, though, in the context of the conversation, for Canadians to know that there is a robust emergency response regime in place that encompasses all levels of government. The work starts at the municipal and provincial levels, and this allows for localized and tailored responses. However, the Government of Canada is taking the role of leadership to coordinate efforts from coast to coast to coast. We have been working with our provincial, territorial and first nations partners to bolster collaboration during times of emergencies, and we are investing massively in civilian response capacity that can leverage different capacities across jurisdictions and provide Canadians with the relief they need during the following large-scale emergencies.
We have acted decisively to be better prepared to respond to wildfires. We have funded the training of 600 wildfire firefighters and 125 indigenous fire guardians. These firefighters will be on the ground this summer to protect our communities. The training program is ongoing, and we aim to train 1,000 new wildfire firefighters this year. We are grateful for the work they do and the risks they take.
That is also why we announced, just this week, on Wednesday, that we will double the tax credits for volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers. We have put in place a $256-million fund for wildland firefighting equipment to the provinces, and we have signed agreements with 11 provinces and territories. These agreements will provide long-term funding needed to procure life-saving material and equipment. Our government understands that there is a need to build communities that are more resilient; that is why it has devised Canada's first-ever national adaptation strategy, which is a whole-of-government plan designed to increase the resiliency of Canadian communities and respond to the impacts of climate change.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Madam Speaker, I am sure that the government intends to do things better, but if any of the events I have mentioned this evening happen again, we are not prepared. We need to have a standing committee that meets every two weeks that includes federal, provincial, territorial, local governments and indigenous peoples and nations to share information.
The adaptation strategy from Environment Canada's plan around heat domes is that by 2040, no more Canadians will die in a heat dome. That is an admission of failure. By tomorrow, no Canadians should die in a heat dome if we pass on best practices for first responders and good advice for Canadians for how to survive. We have no firefighting force. We have not ordered any water bombers. Even though the De Havilland water bomber plane, which is best in class, is right now back-ordered for planes going to Europe, none have been ordered for Canada.
I am not partisan about this, but I am angry because we know better. We have some time, and we had better use it to talk to each other and to build our capacity.
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
Madam Speaker, we recognize that extreme weather events are threatening the lives and livelihoods of a growing number of Canadians and straining emergency management resources across the country. However, I want to emphasize the point that while it is important that emergency management remains the responsibility of local governments, we are committed to working with our partners on solutions tailored to the needs of their communities. I have outlined some of the ways that we are doing that.
Through the humanitarian workforce program, we have invested more than $160 million in the Canadian Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, the Salvation Army, and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada. The funding helps these organizations develop capacity and mobilize more quickly and in bigger numbers. We are working with local communities, and we are making sure that we are partnering to help Canadians in difficult times such as during natural disasters.
Emergency PreparednessAdjournment Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The hon. member for Peterborough—Kawartha's not being present to raise during Adjournment Proceedings the matter for which notice had been given, the notice is being withdrawn.
It being 2:14 p.m., the House stands adjourned until next Monday at 11 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 2:14 p.m.)