The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured to be standing here today representing the residents of Ottawa Centre a year after I was elected. We understand that the environment and the economy go together. We have worked extraordinarily hard this year to deliver on that promise. We have helped to negotiate an ambitious Paris agreement.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is working with the proponent indigenous peoples and stakeholders with respect to this project. We expect the province to assume its responsibilities to ensure the health and safety of communities.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand up today on Persons Day. It is a very important day, and I am so pleased that there are so many women in the House of Commons. I certainly hope to see more. I want to explain to the member opposite why a carbon tax, a carbon price on pollution, makes sense.

Poverty  Mr. Speaker, once again, I am very pleased to stand up today. Let me be clear. Provinces are able to design a system that makes sense for them, and it is revenue neutral. They can determine whether they want to give tax cuts to consumers, to small businesses, as B.C. has done.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the reason we are putting a price on emissions and on pollution is because we want to grow our economy. That is why we have job creators, major energy companies, the five big banks, and consumer companies saying to actually do this, because it will help us reduce emissions and innovate.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite was so concerned about seniors living on fixed incomes, then he should have supported reducing the age of old age security to 65. We also brought in a tax cut for the middle class. We brought in an enhanced Canada child benefit. Let us be clear: the revenues from any price on pollution go back to the provinces.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I am surprised to see that the opposition party is concerned about the middle class, because that party certainly did not support our tax cuts for the middle class. We are working with the provinces and the territories. I will again quote the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard: We believe it's good [carbon pricing], and it's not going to affect the functioning of our trading system.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. The member opposite is criticizing companies that are actually supporting putting a price on pollution. These companies created 900,000 jobs and $400 billion in revenue, and they get it. The environment and the economy go together. We need to reduce emissions while moving to a clean growth economy.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I always find it surprising that the party opposite would be against a market measure that is supported by businesses across Canada. Let me get this straight. We now have Canadian companies, like Suncor and Shell, job creators that are supporting putting a price on pollution—

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I would first like to congratulate my colleague on becoming a grandfather. As a mother of three, I know that we need to take a cleaner approach to growing our economy. We also have to tackle climate change. That is what we are doing. We are putting a price on carbon, because that solution uses market forces to lower emissions and grow a cleaner economy.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, part of my portfolio is to constantly think about future generations. That is why we have to ensure that we have a cleaner economy. We need good jobs and we must protect our environment. That is what we are doing. I will quote the Premier of Quebec who said, “We believe it's good [carbon pricing], and it's not going to affect the functioning of our trading system.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I was actually born in Hamilton, so I know that area very well. I would just like to be clear that this is about growing the economy, and it is about protecting our environment. Unfortunately, the party opposite does not understand that that is the direction we need to go.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite and the party opposite is so concerned about the middle class, I wonder why they did not support our middle-class tax cut and why they did not support an enhancement to the Canada child benefit, which now helps nine out of 10 Canadian families and raises over 300,00 children out of poverty.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I am very sorry that the party opposite does not believe that we should be taking action to tackle climate change. They did not vote for the Paris agreement, when the critic actually joined me. Let us point out where the evidence does show it has an impact. In British Columbia, they brought in a price on pollution, and what did they do?

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite said that he supports the Paris agreement. However, that was not the case a few days ago. He did not vote in favour of the Paris agreement. Obviously, the Conservatives did not have a plan. They had targets, but no plan. We have a plan to fight climate change and grow our economy because we know that the economy and the environment go hand in hand.