Bruce Hyer

[Petitions, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding that there has been a temporary reprieve for VIA Rail through the Maritimes, I am still receiving petitions saying that service cuts in northern New Brunswick and the Maritimes would pose a real hardship on the residents there, that they would have a serious and detrimental effect on the economy, and that rail is the most environmentally friendly and economical means of transportation. The petitioners are seeking investments in rail infrastructure to allow VIA Rail to continue.

[The Environment, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, two of Canada's greatest challenges are rising CO₂ and growing poverty. The Conservative government has not addressed either one.

Proposed by the Citizens Climate Lobby, carbon fee and dividend would address both by setting a fee on carbon to curb our petrol addictions and putting that money straight back into the pockets of each and every Canadian.

Will the Minister of Finance please consider carbon fee and dividend?

[Points of Order, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is literally a point of order here in this House. The hon. member for Kenora quite often heckles and catcalls. He was doing it today during my question. I would like that hon. member to consider his behaviour and apologize.

[Justice, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' proposed prostitution laws will criminalize sex work for both the people who sell it and the people who buy it. It will never pass muster with the courts and it will put the lives of vulnerable women and girls in danger. In New Zealand, prostitution is legal, regulated, and taxed. The safety of sex workers and women is protected.

Why has the minister introduced a bill he knows will pick yet another fight with the courts?

[Petitions, June 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by people from across Ontario, from Guelph and Toronto and all the way to Dryden and Kenora. They ask that the government, even though the ownership of the property has been transferred, continue to fund the important scientific work at the Experimental Lakes Area near Dryden and Kenora so that the important work on commercial, recreational, and other kinds of fisheries can continue unabated.

[Petitions, May 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition regarding Bill C-442, the national Lyme disease strategy act, brought by the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, which would develop a national strategy to ensure the recognition, timely diagnosis, and effective treatment of Lyme disease in Canada. We have a large and growing number of citizens in Thunder Bay—Superior North who have Lyme disease, and unfortunately, it is increasing with climate change.

[Natural Resources, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member failed to mention that those coal bans do not come into effect until 2015. They also allow new plants; they just tinker with it a bit.

Again, the solution to economic and conservation issues is carbon fee and dividend.

Carbon fee and dividend almost does it all. It prices carbon fairly and scientifically, uses only free market forces to foster CO₂ reductions, costs virtually nothing to administer, benefits lower income Canadians and, what should appeal to that side, no money goes to the government at all.

NASA genius James Hansen supports the Citizens Climate Lobby on carbon fee and dividend. So does venture capitalist, Tom Rand, brilliant author of the book, Waking the Frog, with great ideas on how we can reduce CO₂ and create jobs and wealth.

By the way, tomorrow night Mr. Rand is speaking at 5:00 p.m. at the University of Ottawa.

With a national energy strategy, with carbon fee and dividend at its centrepiece, Canada could reach our economic potential in the new and growing green economy.

[Natural Resources, May 26th, 2014]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The IMF reports that Canadian government subsidies to oil are a whopping $34 billion each and every year. We Canadians are addicted to oil. Raised on the car culture, I am a bit guilty myself. We have built a huge and wealthy, but unsustainable western economy, built upon cars and oil.

What kind of technologies should we be switching to? Wind? Solar? Tidal? Geothermal? Mass transit? Electric vehicles? Super-insulated homes and businesses? Super-efficient TVs, computers, washers, driers, furnaces, and light bulbs? It should be all of the above, and more.

Currently over 60% of Canada's electricity comes from hydroelectric power, and that could be doubled. Canada captures just 1% of the green tech market, worth $1 trillion globally. With the right investment, Canada could increase its share of the clean tech market to $60 billion by 2020.

How do we free the awesome power of the marketplace to discourage CO₂?

Four out of five of our national party leaders acknowledge the need to price carbon.

The Prime Minister has refused to price carbon and has instead promised regulations, which never arrive. The NDP is stuck on carbon cap and trade, which is expensive, bureaucratic, complicated, and ineffective, truly a job killer. The NDP does not really understand business, large or small. The leader of the Liberals has sometimes called for a price on carbon to justify his supporting the XL pipeline. There are no details, of course, and likely no real commitment.

The simple answer is carbon fee and dividend, supported by the leader of the Green Party.

My question is, do the Conservatives really believe in letting the market decide? Will they consider carbon fee and dividend, which could solve the CO₂ problem in a predictable and effective way?

[Natural Resources, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot hear myself talk.

[Natural Resources, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, two of the biggest problems in the world are increasing global climate disasters and growing gaps of income. The right energy policies could help solve both of those things, but Canada has no national energy strategy, or any real job strategy, other than the temporary foreign worker program.

Meanwhile, communist China is eating our lunch on green technologies and green jobs.

By refusing binding greenhouse gas targets, Red China has successfully trapped our Conservatives, all while Red China's national bank is pouring capital into sustainable future energy technologies like solar and wind. China is the world leader in clean energy investment. It set aside $54 billion last year for the sector, dwarfing Canada's paltry contributions.

Endlessly pumping oil is not even doing our economy that much good in the short term. It is becoming clear that over half of all of the oil and gas reserves in the ground will have to stay in the ground as monstrous stranded assets.

Let us look at some of the facts of life under the current government since it took power in 2006. Unemployment is up by 9%, and youth employment is far worse than that. Real economic growth per capita is the lowest since the Great Depression, and personal debt and the national debt are both up by over 25%.

As a businessperson myself, I find it fascinating that the party that claims to be the party of free markets, instead picks winners and losers, mostly losers in the longer run.

The IMF reports that Canadian government subsidies to oil are a whopping $34 billion each and every year. We Canadians are addicted to oil. Raised on the car culture, I am a bit guilty myself.