Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the polluter pays principle, which requires polluters, particularly oil companies, to bear the costs associated with managing the effects of the increase in greenhouse gases they produce.
As we said earlier, these companies rake in over $130 billion in profits, 60% of which goes to the U.S. Instead of helping to ensure that these companies pay for all of the environmental disasters we are seeing, which cost taxpayers huge amounts of money, the Conservatives would rather help these companies lower their costs by doing away with the industrial carbon tax, for example. This tax enables the government get back a bit of money that it can use to cover some of the costs of climate change. In short, the Conservatives are supporting the revenues of these companies, which privatize their profits, while leaving the public to deal with the consequences. It is up to taxpayers, the public, to pay for the negative effects caused by these companies.