Madam Speaker, I am pleased to address members and those in my riding of Nickel Belt in the area of Greater Sudbury, Canada's mining capital, located on the territory of Robinson-Huron treaty territory of 1850, on the traditional unceded lands of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Wahnapitae peoples, and home of the Métis people.
I want to first thank the hon. member for Edmonton Manning for his motion. He is a successful entrepreneur, and I would like to view myself along those lines as well. Like me, he wants nothing but success for Canada's natural resources industry and the communities that rely on them. This is why I want to address the motion in two parts, starting with the positive.
This approach reflects who I am, a positive, constructive and friendly person. I got into politics to make a difference.
I want to help improve lives by serving the many communities in my large riding of Nickel Belt, by meeting more people and making new friends throughout the process, because that is the key to a rich and meaningful life.
One of our guiding principles is to always be able to find the positive in what people have to give.
Let us look at areas where the government and I agree with my hon. colleague.
First, it is clear that he enthusiastically supports the workers who depend on Canada's energy industry. So do we. I know that the Minister of Natural Resources, who is an MP from an energy-producing province, shares this support for workers in the sector.
Second, we agree that this sector is a vital source of jobs all across the country and for indigenous peoples. In fact, we support programs that encourage greater participation. Canada's energy sector creates and supports well-paying, high-skilled jobs that generate tax revenue that fund our cherished social programs, and the sector is leading the way in innovation during this global fight against climate change.
It is true that Canada currently relies on oil and gas to heat our homes, schools and hospitals; to power our vehicles; and to fuel an agricultural sector, which provides food on the table across Canada and around the world. That is why we encourage the energy sector to continue its work to reduce its carbon footprint, so it remains competitive in the low-carbon, global economy displacing dirtier sources like coal.
However, this is where I start to disagree with the member opposite.
My first issue is that the motion seems to glorify the status quo. It completely disregards the necessary path companies must take in a difficult environment, an environment in which many investment fund managers are investing their billions in countries that are taking climate change seriously.
With all due respect, this is ridiculous and completely disregards the fact that climate change is real, no matter what the Conservative Party members think. Climate change is already causing damage and this will only get worse if Canada and other countries fail to take serious action.
Companies such as Suncor, Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources get it. They take this crisis seriously. This is critical because they are among companies with the kind of ingenuity and financial muscle we need during this transition period.
Cenovus, on its website, says, “We believe companies that fail to adapt to this transition will face growing carbon-related risks, while those that act now will position themselves for long-term business resilience.”
I can also quote Premier Jason Kenney, who told his party faithful that Alberta could no longer stick its head in the ground and “pretend that the aspirations behind the Paris thing are not hugely influential in how capital is allocated and how market access decisions are made”.
Not only does the motion fail to recognize that others are skating to where the puck is going, I think it also fails to accurately reflect this government's vision for the sector.
I want to make one thing clear about net-zero emissions. We have to explore Canada's natural resources as cleanly and sustainably as possible while supporting research into how we can create export-focused industries around hydrogen, petrochemical products, packaging recovery notes, or PRNs, carbon capture and carbon fibre.
I also must object to a motion that does not recognize the role our government has played, a role that has safeguarded jobs during this pandemic, including more than $2.8 billion invested in supporting energy workers and their families during this pandemic.
This funding is helping to maintain and create thousands of well-paying jobs. It is also helping to improve the sector's environmental performance so that it can play a key role in Canada's clean growth future.
I would like to add one final constructive criticism. The motion fails to mention that we are responding to this new global investment climate with a powerful climate plan. This plan includes a price on carbon pollution, a ban on coal-fired electricity by 2030 and, most recently, an initial investment of $15 billion to help meet our 2030 and 2050 Paris targets, with funds to improve energy efficiency, provide clean fuels and support businesses.
It is important to reduce emissions, make low-carbon products and help the forestry industry and others plant two billion trees over the next 10 years. Our government is also investing $3 billion over five years through a new net zero accelerator fund. This will help expedite decarbonization projects with large emitters, contribute to the global scaling-up of clean technologies and accelerate Canada's industrial transformation across all sectors.
I have offered enough constructive criticism on Motion No. 61. I would like to end on the same positive note that I began. The member, as I said, is a successful businessman, a person who surely recognizes the opportunity when he sees it. I would like to invite the member, his colleagues and all Canadians to view the energy transition in a positive way.
This represents one of the last trade opportunities of our time and an opportunity for Canada to be a world leader. It is an enormous challenge, no less intimidating than those we faced in the past, such as building the trans-Canada railway, building the St. Lawrence Seaway or developing an offshore industry in the often dangerous waters of the North Atlantic.
We accomplished those three things, and we will accomplish many other things in the future. We can meet our Paris targets. We can do it while encouraging our oil companies to become the cleanest and most innovative in the world.
We also respect and celebrate the workers from across Canada in the energy sector. Their innovation, drive and determination are so important. Workers in the Canadian energy sector will be crucial in this transition to a net-zero future, but we need all Canadians to pull together for a common goal. We simply cannot afford to leave anyone out.
