Jonathan Wilkinson

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to address affordability. That is exactly what we are doing with the heat pump program to ensure that people are actually saving money. It is also important that we are fighting climate change in a thoughtful and substantive way.

I do find this question a little bit odd, coming from the only member in the House of Commons who voted against the Paris Agreement.

[Climate Change, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that folks actually do their homework. There is an existing heat pump program across the country that provides grants of $10,000. It enables people to get a cheque within three days. It applies just as much in British Columbia as it does in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Last week, we announced we were increasing that by another $5,000, so long as provinces actually step up to be part of the solution. Therefore, the answer is yes.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, this program and the heat pump program actually apply in every province and territory across the country. I would also suggest that while, yes, disproportionately there is more heating oil in Atlantic Canada, we are focused on ensuring we are addressing pressing needs in every part of the country, including by providing significant funding for abandoned oil and gas wells in Alberta and British Columbia.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, home heating oil is a challenge not just for Atlantic Canadians, but for many in rural Canada. That has been the case for many years, but it became more forceful in the last couple of years as the price of home heating oil skyrocketed. It went up 75% in 2022.

I would say we have come up with a solution that will enable Canadians to do the right thing with respect to fighting climate change. It will actually put more money in their pockets. It is a good solution for the climate. It is a good solution for the affordability of Canadians in Atlantic Canada, and everywhere across this country.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, this program applies across the country in every province and territory of this country. We have developed a solution with respect to home heating oil that will put more money back into the pockets of Canadians. It will continue to fight and reduce emissions. It will address both the climate issue and challenges with respect to affordability.

[Taxation, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, again, I would say that folks in the chamber need to do their homework. This program actually applies across the country. The doubling of the rural top-up applies across the country. The heat pump program applies across the country. It applies to all folks who are challenged by the cost of home heating oil.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, certainly it is very important that we are addressing both affordability concerns and fighting climate change across this country. The heat pump program, the hon. Leader of the Opposition, if he had done his homework, would know, applies across the country. It actually will help to ensure we are reducing the costs of home heating, of oil heating, in every province and territory while continuing to address climate change in a thoughtful way.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, this government has developed, and will be rolling out, a plan to deploy free heat pumps in Atlantic Canada and across the country. It will address the affordability issues, put more money back in the pockets of Canadians and actually help us to address climate change, which is something the opposition members seem to ignore on an ongoing basis.

[Natural Resources, October 18th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I think we can agree that the Conservative Party destroyed environmental legislation in this country and undermined the integrity of those processes such that it was incumbent upon the new government to bring into place better rules that would allow major projects to be built in this country. These would be projects that respect environmental rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. We have delivered on that.

We certainly respect the decision of the court, and we will be making amendments to the act. However, the Supreme Court was clear, and I will be very clear about this, that the Parliament of Canada enacted legislation to protect the environment, and we certainly will continue to do that.

[Natural Resources, October 18th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians understand that, when the Conservative Party was in power, it gutted the environmental legislation that existed in this country in 2012. It undermined the confidence that Canadians had that the environment was going to be protected and that the rights of indigenous peoples would be respected, such that good projects could go ahead.

We have put into place a system of better rules to ensure environmental sustainability and respect for indigenous rights, which will accelerate the work we are doing to ensure that good projects move ahead.

With respect to the Supreme Court decision, there are some surgical tweaks that we will make to ensure that we move forward.