Statement made on 26 October 2010 by Senator Robert Peterson
Hon. Robert W. Peterson:
Honourable senators, I rise today in support of Bill C-311, known as the climate change accountability act or an Act to ensure that Canada assumes its responsibilities in preventing dangerous climate change.
Sadly, the purpose of this bill is nothing more than to remind the government of its responsibility to keep its word. That we are debating such a bill today, honourable senators, is a profound disappointment. I maintain that we are debating a bill that should never have come into being since the Canadian government is beholden to keep its word and to lead on the global stage. It is what we are known for; it is how we built our reputation; and it is what the world expects.
While this government's abdication of its responsibilities is a disappointment, it is no surprise. Remember, honourable senators, this is the party that ridicules climate change and the Kyoto Protocol as a money-sucking, socialist scheme and that has vowed to fight it all the way.
Soon after they came to power, the government wasted no time in embarrassing Canada abroad. In 2006, mere months after Stéphane Dion brought the world together at the climate change conference in Montreal, Rona Ambrose went to Nairobi and was criticized for an appalling lack of vision. Next was John Baird who shamed us in Bali — not surprising since, I am told, Canada's delegation was made up of mostly public relations professionals at the expense of scientists and negotiators.
Most recently in Copenhagen, the fossil awards reached their fever pitch. At that conference it became clear that Canada had gone from leader to laggard on the environment and environmental groups began to target their protests towards Canada.
Never has it been more clear that the Prime Minister has isolated Canada on the environment. He is behind the provinces and our peer countries when it comes to taking leadership on climate change, and he has undermined international progress at every turn.
Many now link our lack of leadership on the climate change file to our embarrassing loss to Portugal of a seat on the UN Security Council. We can debate the reason for Canada's loss at the UN at another opportunity, but honourable senators will agree that Canada's place in the world is not what it used to be and certainly not what it should be; but I digress.
My goal today is to discuss the merits and shortcomings of Bill C-311, the climate change accountability act. Although this bill enjoyed the Liberal party's support in the other place, it is not perfect. Our preferred course of action was to call on the government to immediately put in place a national climate change plan with economy-wide regulations on emissions and strategic investments in renewable and clean energy.
This was the basis of an opposition day motion that we put to the house last spring.
We did this to address some of the shortcomings of the Climate Change Act, because, let us be clear, Bill C-311 is not a comprehensive climate change plan. It picks targets, but it does not lay out a plan on how Canada can reach those targets That is where it comes up short, and that is because Bill C-311 was originally tabled by the NDP over three years ago and reflects old thinking on climate change. The world and the science have moved forward over the past three years beyond what this bill originally anticipated. New challenges came out of Copenhagen and there are new ways of understanding climate change, like the growing consensus around the need to limit global temperature change to less than two degrees.
Having said that, we support Bill C-311's central principle that Canada needs to take immediate, ambitious action to get us back on track to reducing emissions and improving our renewable energy sources. However, to compensate for its shortcomings, our Liberal motion called for immediate and decisive action to reduce our emissions starting with a domestic legally-binding, long-term emissions reduction target and the implementation of a national climate change plan with economy-wide regulations to get us there; strategic investments in renewable and clean technology; a first ministers' meeting within 90 days of the motion passing so that we could start moving forward as a country; and for the government to immediately reverse their short-sighted decision to cancel the ecoENERGY program that supported Canadians in making their homes more energy efficient, because that is precisely where we need to start — in every home, in every office, in every community.
Honourable senators, that motion was passed in the other place, but the government did nothing. We are therefore debating today a plea for the government to finally take climate change seriously. I truly hope we can all agree on that. As I mentioned a moment ago, this government's abdication of its responsibilities has shamed Canada abroad, but make no mistake, there are very real domestic and economic concerns as well.
Honourable senators, Liberals believe that Canada does not have to choose between environmental sustainability and economic growth. We are committed to a cap and trade system that is both verifiable and binding, with hard caps that lead to absolute reductions. We want to protect our oceans and other waterways and our natural environment. We want to revitalize a cleaner forest industry. Most of all, we want Canada to be a player in the new clean energy economy.
In my home province of Saskatchewan and in communities right across the country, people are looking to the new green sustainable economy as a way of bringing Canada bigger and better opportunities, economic opportunities and opportunities for new jobs.
Over the past year, Liberals have outlined an economic vision for creating long-term economic growth through strategic, targeted investments toward this new economy. In order to get there, Canada needs to invest in renewable energy production such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. We must invest in things like transit systems, high-speed rail, smart meters for our homes and smart electrical grids. Jobs must be created through the development of cutting edge industries that will export clean technology products to growing markets such as China and India, and we must ensure that the conditions exist for companies to develop and manufacture new products and materials that will increase our energy efficiency.
A Liberal government would make the necessary investments, and we would also bring existing legislation together into a single clean energy act that would, among other things, modernize federal legislation for energy efficient products and set mandatory federal clean energy procurement standards.
Unfortunately, our current government has let Canada fall behind in the new renewable energy economy. The Prime Minister does not understand that at the heart of everything affecting climate change is the question of energy — the energy we produce, the energy we save and the energy we will need. The fact is that this Conservative government also does not understand that in order for Canada to be a world leader we need the federal government to make significant investment in clean energy and energy efficiency and to take decisive action on climate change.
Honourable senators, Bill C-311 will not address all the problems I have highlighted today, or even come close to bringing in the kinds of measures needed to make Canada a leader in the new green economy. As I have said, it is rooted in old thinking and could be considered by some to be almost obsolete. However, despite its shortcomings it has one central redeeming quality: It urges the government to do something.
As I mentioned at the outset, it pains me to even be debating Bill C-311. That this government needs Parliament to tie a string around its finger to remind it of its obligations is a sad comment on our country's state of affairs. As any child in any school in Saskatchewan or elsewhere in this country will tell you, the matter is urgent.
Honourable senators, I call on you to join me in supporting this bill and in sending the government a message that they need to take these issues seriously and take action on the environment now.