Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and address the opposition's motion. It would be no surprise that I will not be voting in favour of the motion. I would think the Conservative Party would have learned some things over the past number of years in regard to the whole issue of climate change and the general feelings people have at the door.
I want to emphasize that with a new Prime Minister and a new administration, we have made it very clear that we want to establish and build the strongest economy in the G7. This means, in good part, that we have to recognize the reality of the economy in general. There is a time to recognize that, at times, technology matters, even for the Conservatives.
When I think of the Conservative posturing on the issue, I think of Luddites, individuals who do not quite understand the importance of technology, and how they resist any sort of change. Further, they would ultimately not do anything in terms of intervention to try to acknowledge and foster the benefits of technology.
If we listen to some of the speeches today, they say to let the free market decide, to let the free market determine everything, not recognizing that the government has a role to play. This is one of the biggest things that I believe distinguish Liberals from the far MAGA right we see across the way. It is not the traditional Progressive Conservative Party that elected individuals like Brian Mulroney. It is a totally different party today, and we see that in a number of the speeches the Conservatives provide.
I look at it in terms of recognizing that Donald Trump, the tariffs and trade will have a very significant impact here in Canada. We campaigned on that, in good part. We also recognize a need to realize that technology and the advancement of sustainable development in the area of our automobile industry are in fact a reality. The Conservative Party has resisted that consistently, even with the former Justin Trudeau administration when we had major announcements, announcements that were worth literally billions of dollars. We can talk about Honda, Stellantis or Volkswagen.
I must say, I do not think people really appreciate and understand the massive investments that Volkswagen has committed to materializing here in Canada. If, in fact, we have the realization of its potential, it will be one of the largest factories, if not the largest, in terms of square footage in Canada and possibly even North America. It is anticipated that the size of that factory would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200 football fields. It is a massive factory. Let us think of all the resources that are going to be required in order to support that factory alone.
Members opposite talk about jobs and try to give the impression that they are concerned about the automobile industry. I would beg to differ. I would suggest that if they were genuinely concerned about the auto industry, they would take a look at what is happening around the world. What is happening around the world is a growing demand for electric vehicles.
We have, for example, the United Kingdom and the European Union, and one of my colleagues made reference to Norway. These are countries that have really picked up the ball on electric vehicles, recognizing that technology has changed significantly.
I love the example that the government whip gave earlier today when he talked about incandescent light bulbs. I can imagine what the Conservatives would have said: “What is wrong with the light bulb? It works. Let the market decide.” After all, GE and company were still making millions on those light bulbs. Why would they change their manufacturing process? Why would they adopt the new technology? The simple reason is that through change, technology and research, we see that there is a better alternative, the alternative being LED lighting.
The Conservatives' position would have been to leave it, not touch it and let the market decide. Progressive governments would recognize that what we can do is speed up that process by providing incentives and encouraging companies to invest in technology and to use that technology for the betterment of society. That is what I love about that particular example the member raised. We went from one form of a light bulb to a new form that ultimately was better for the environment, ended up costing less for the consumer and did an equal or better job in terms of providing light. At the end of the day, it is better for the environment. Everyone wins in a situation like that.
I realize there is a big difference between electric light bulbs and electric vehicles, but the principles of technology can be applied to both. The attitude coming from today's far-right Conservative Party has not changed and is applied to both on an equal basis, and that is why I find it unfortunate. If the Conservatives really cared about the jobs, they would be thinking about the future. They should be thinking about where the jobs are going to be.
Whether the Conservative Party wants to or not, the world is going to continue to rotate, and we will continue to see the expansion of EVs. We will continue to see young people drive environmental changes that are good for our environment and ultimately, I would argue, as the member for Kingston and the Islands did, good for the consumer too. Everyone can benefit by accepting policies that make a positive difference all around.
I will refer to two things that I think about when I think of electric vehicles. One is the taxi industry in the city of Winnipeg. I raise it because Winnipeg has a variety of weather. We get pretty hot summers, the best summers in the world, and we get some pretty cold winters. If we take a look at the taxi industry in the city of Winnipeg, I suspect it might be the first taxi industry that went electric as a whole, virtually all of it. It was with the Prius. At the turn of the century, we saw Priuses being purchased by taxi owners. It is truly amazing how that industry adopted the Prius, a hybrid, as a way to provide transportation among points A, B and C for people coming to Winnipeg and for local residents. We have over 450 Priuses driving around the city of Winnipeg, and it makes a difference.
When members opposite talk about, as has been pointed out, myths, they exaggerate some of those problems, such as that the batteries will not survive in cold weather or will not heat vehicles properly. I can assure members that the riders of Unicity Taxi were not complaining that it was too cold inside the taxi. I can assure members that a taxi driver and the taxi owners would not buy Priuses in Winnipeg if the vehicles were not good year-round in the extreme temperatures that the city of Winnipeg actually receives. The Winnipeg taxi industry, I believe, led the way when it came to taxis in Canada, and quite possibly North America, and I applaud the industry representatives who have done so.
The other thing I would like to highlight, as I think of hybrid or electric vehicles, is New Flyer industries. New Flyer produces electric buses that are now being driven all over North America. If we take a look to see what was there a decade ago, there was not much, but today the industry continues to grow. In fact, members can take a look at their website.
When we talk about how government can make a difference, we established the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and I know my Conservative friends are very familiar with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. My colleague from Waterloo says that they really like it, but actually, no, they oppose it. For the life of me, I do not quite understand why they would oppose the $10 billion-plus through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which was then matched by more than $25 billion, creating 35 billion dollars' worth of different types of investment from every region of the country. The reason I bring it up is that many of those investments are in things like electric school buses and electric municipal public buses.
There are so many opportunities out there to create jobs, jobs of the future, green jobs, but the Conservatives just want to close their eyes, put their head in the sand and let them go by. At the end of the day, I would argue that it is at a substantial cost, because what we should be doing is much like what the Prime Minister is talking about. We need to strive to build a strong and healthy economy, arguably the strongest economy in the G7. We can do that, but it means that, at times, we have to recognize that we have to take advantage of the technology that is there and use government policy, whether it is taxation, regulation, incentives or whatever it may be, in order to encourage consumer choice or encourage a company to invest in technology. Those are absolutely critical in order for that to occur.
I made reference to the taxi industry in Manitoba. I believe there was a $2,000 incentive grant for anyone who bought an electric vehicle, and I suspect many members within the taxi industry actually took advantage of that particular grant. As a national government, the previous administration, under Justin Trudeau, had a program that provided funds for individuals to purchase an electric vehicle; some provinces did likewise. We would have a federal government, along with a provincial government, promoting and encouraging people to purchase an electric vehicle, whether by providing those sorts of grants and incentives, providing tax breaks or providing subsidies to companies.
We get criticized by the far right, the Conservative reformers across the way, who say, “Well, we should not be subsidizing. We should not be providing grants.” I can remember that Volkswagen, Honda and Stellantis, I believe it was, were at a press conference we had, and if we take a look, we will see that Premier Doug Ford was there. Different political parties and different levels of government are recognizing the needs and taking a look at where the future is.
Yes, at times there will be pauses and there will be concerns, but at the very least we are moving in a direction of working with provinces and other stakeholders in order to secure the type of jobs that we want in the future. We have a Prime Minister who is committed to working with provinces and territories, indigenous communities and communities as a whole in terms of how we can build a stronger economy. We saw that very visibly just over two weeks ago, when the Prime Minister met with the first ministers to talk about strengthening the economies.
When people raise the issue of the automobile industry as a whole, whether it is Ontario, Quebec, B.C., or any other province that contributes to the degree that we see today, it is wrong for the Conservatives to try to give the false impression that the government is not concerned about those jobs, because we are working with industry and unions. We understand the importance of those jobs. Equally important, we understand that as things change, we have to stay on top of them, because if we fail to do that, we will lose jobs. However, we are very focused on how we can not only preserve jobs but also grow the industry.
It is a targeted industry. It is something in which the previous administration, under Justin Trudeau, invested heavily, as other governments have done, likewise. We want to see the automobile industry continue to prosper. It is an industry I am very familiar with. In fact, when I was 11 or 12 years old, I used to pump gas at my father's gas station. From there, I worked in the automobile industry until I joined the Canadian Forces a number of years later. I have family members who are directly involved in the automobile industry. There are individuals, like Larry Vickers and others, who want to make sure I am aware of what is taking place in that particular industry.
