House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 46% of the vote.
The Environment April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, that was from a member who just voted for the tiddlywink bill.
This government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and, by 2020, to have 90% of electricity produced by clean sources. A carbon tax that his leader is proposing will not achieve that.
The Environment April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I listened with shock to that question. The NDP members voted against $1 billion for green infrastructure. They voted against $300 million for the eco-energy retrofits. They voted against $1 billion for carbon capture and storage. What is happening over there? Do they not believe in climate change?
The Environment April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that for long, long years we had a Liberal government that did absolutely nothing on the environment. Now we have a Liberal leader who wants to impose a job killing carbon tax on Canadians.
Our policy on the environment is tough, it is real and it strikes the right balance between creating jobs and protecting the environment. That is what Canadians want. They want strong leadership on the environment and that is what they get right now.
The Environment April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the member may not be aware, but Canada and the U.S. have a clean energy dialogue. The Prime Minister has met with President Obama. The Minister of the Environment has been meeting with his colleagues in the U.S.
It is a move forward to expand clean energy, research and development, technology, like carbon capture and storage, to build a more efficient electricity grid, harmonizing our fuel efficiency and on and on. We are getting it done.
The Environment April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the member's question is a very important one. The question is really this. Why is he not supporting one of the toughest targets in Canadian history, and definitely one of the toughest in the world?
Canada's targets will reduce greenhouse gas emissions an absolute 20% by 2020. It is huge.
Petitions March 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition from constituents in my riding of Langley.
The petitioners say that there are a number of severe, potentially life-threatening conditions that do not qualify for disability programs because they are not necessarily permanent. People are losing their homes and livelihoods while trying to fight these severe medical conditions. The petitioners are therefore calling on the House of Commons to enact legislation to provide additional medical EI benefits at least equal to maternity EI benefits.
Mr. Speaker, the question that rings throughout the hall is from the hon. member's leader asking why we did we not get it done, speaking to the Liberal Party. What a shame that the Liberals did not get it done after 13 long years.
In addition to attracting and retaining the best and brightest scientists, we are providing them with the tools necessary to conduct world-class research.
The economic action plan includes over $2 billion to support deferred maintenance and repair projects at post-secondary institutions and federal laboratories in order to improve our research capabilities. Again, evidence that we are getting it done on the environment.
Mr. Speaker, the government remains deeply committed to sustaining Canadian research capacity in the climate change and atmospheric sciences. Our government supports world-class climate change research in many ways, including through university and government research projects. This February, Laxmi U. Sushama of the Université du Québec à Montréal became a new Canada research chair in regional climate modelling. This was part of $120.4 million to fund 134 new or renewed Canada research chairs in 37 Canadian universities.
Several Canadian scientists have taken leading roles in the intergovernmental panel on climate change. We are working hard to maintain or improve our strong position in this area through many new science and technology initiatives, as outlined in the 2007 Federal S&T Strategy: Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage.
As part of the clean air agenda, we have invested $1.5 billion in several priority research areas, including climate change adaptation. This includes $15 million for research to improve climate change scenarios and $14 million for a program to assist northerners in assessing key vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation.
Furthermore, the recent economic action plan allocates more money for green initiatives than any budget in Canadian history, and I thank the member for supporting that, with $1 billion over five years for clean energy research development and demonstration projects. We are one of the world leaders in this technology, including carbon capture and storage. We also invested over $150 million in the International Polar Year, more than any country.
The Federal S&T Strategy lays out a comprehensive, multi-year plan to make Canada a world leader in science and technology and a key source of entrepreneurial innovation and creativity. A cornerstone of the plan is developing, attracting and retaining the highly skilled people we need to thrive in the modern global economy.
We are working hard to build up our scientific capacity through increased funding to the Canada research chairs program, for instance, and the creation of the new Vanier scholarships. This was launched in September 2008 to support 500 Canadian and international doctoral students with scholarships valued at up to $50,000 per year.
Overall, Canada remains the second largest spender, after Sweden, on R&D through higher education among OECD countries. An independent study in 2006 concluded that Canada ranks among the top five countries in the field of climate, meteorological and atmospheric science.
Environmental Enforcement Act March 23rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his hard work and I enjoy working with him two days a week at the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development. He works very hard and I want to thank him for his very good question.
As evidence of how much of a priority this is, in budget 2007 there were $22 million to hire more environmental enforcement officers. We have done it there and we are now providing the legislative changes in the statutes. I believe we have the people and now we will have the legislation. There will be a strong deterrent. With some benchmarks or guide posts for the courts with minimum and maximum sentences, I am quite optimistic this will be a tool that will make sure that we do not have environmental damage. Corporations will not be able to make a profit with this new legislation. They will have to pay back any profit that results from that offence.
Environmental Enforcement Act March 23rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the member makes a good point, but we are doing the Species at Risk Act review as it is a legislative requirement after five years. We will likely be making recommendations to amend SARA, so that would be the opportunity to also have this added to the statute as part of the recommendations of the standing committee.