Statement made on 26 February 2009 by Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette
Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:
Honourable senators, I would like to take this opportunity to salute our former colleague, Senator Gustafson. I also had an opportunity to rub shoulders with him while studying the genetically modified organisms file. I think we did some excellent work and produced an excellent report. His contribution was outstanding and I always enjoyed spending time with Senator Gustafson. I wish him all the best in the world, and I thought I would say this in French, since other senators have spoken in English, to say that Quebec also recognizes the talents of Len Gustafson.
My motion is related to the extremely difficult situation in Australia.
Honourable senators, I wish to offer my sincere condolences to all Australian families who have suffered harm or loss and who have lost family members.
Many regions are affected by extreme climate change and, as a parliamentarian in a system similar to that of Australia, I would also like to offer my sympathy to the Australian Prime Minister and tell him that we are all saddened by the situation, which has recurred again this week. New fires started yesterday, February 25. The entire Australian population is affected by these devastating events, the likes of which the country has never seen before.
I am passionate about this because I have family who live, in Australia and who will have to make sacrifices to face the future.
In case you have not been following this disaster, I should inform you that Australia often has fires like this, but right now the country is in the midst of the worst drought it has ever experienced. On the other hand, as a result of climate change, the state of Queensland — home of the current Prime Minister — is beleaguered by floods brought on by unprecedented rains from cyclones. Water is lacking: potable water, groundwater; everything is compromised in that country.
I would like to report that Barry Brook, Director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, and Zhai Panmao, Director-General of the China Meteorological Administration, both feel that there is a very probable link between climate change, the issue of emissions in the atmosphere and the major shifts that this country is seeing.
Jean-Pascal Ypersele, a Belgian researcher and vice-chair of the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which studies atmospheric issues, confirms that these events are on track with their weather forecasts.
This issue is currently being closely followed by the relevant international organizations.
Earlier, we were talking about agriculture. In 2007, periods of drought and significant climate change caused agricultural production to drop by 10 per cent, which bankrupted many rural communities. We can see how that affected the country. Things are looking pretty bad. Temperatures reached 46ºC in early February, winds blew at 100 km/h, entire towns were destroyed, 450,000 hectares were burned, 3,400 firefighters and the army were deployed, and 2,029 houses were destroyed. The death toll is now at 210, and 30 people are still missing. Insurance companies have paid out $504 million U.S. so far. The final total is sure to be much higher. To date, $10 million, Australian, have been spent on emergency aid.
Such are the consequences of negligence on the part of those who ignored the effects of climate change and of the previous government's decision not to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol. We fail to act at our peril.
Right now, we are all thinking about the fires, but the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is still being added up. The storm killed 1,836 people, and caused, to date, $81.2 billion in damages. The Bahamas, Florida, Cuba and Alabama have also paid the terrible price of climate change.
When a government refuses to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and takes none of the steps called for in the Kyoto Protocol, the consequences can be dramatic.
Faced with these incredible numbers, let us bear in mind that neither Mr. Howard, nor Mr. Bush, both friends of Stephen Harper, signed the Kyoto Protocol. Canada's Parliament passed a law to implement Kyoto, but the current government is ignoring it.
As such, we need to do some soul-searching and ask ourselves what, as parliamentarians, we should do.
I would like to remind you what the U.S. President, who visited us last week, said in a press release.
He pledged $15-billion a year to develop cleaner sources of energy — including wind power, solar power and biofuels — and urged Congress to ''send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America.''
In light of our new neighbour's intentions, we must ask ourselves certain questions.
I looked very carefully in the current budget for the amount of money the Government of Canada intends to spend to meet its commitment to cooperate and work in the same spirit as President Obama, and I found the amount of $1 billion over five years, that is, $200 million a year.
Taking the sum of $15 billion a year that the American government plans to spend, and dividing it by 10, since that is the ratio of Canada's population to that of the United States, we should be spending $1.5 billion a year in order to be on a level playing field.
In my opinion, the current government is not serious in its desire to work with the American government to find new technologies, develop a new approach and reduce greenhouse gases. The current budget does not provide the funds needed to bring about real change.
We have all read the report issued by the National Geographic Society. I would like to quote Mr. Ignatieff.
My concern is that, at the moment, it's barely environmentally sustainable, and it's barely socially sustainable. The Conservative government has done nothing about this. We need to move forward.
I would like to remind honourable senators that the first research and spending on the oil sands took place in the 1980s under the Trudeau administration. Those were the early days of oil sands research and development, and Canada had a very bright future in this area.
There is a difference between developing a resource and developing it properly. I would like to remind you of some rather troubling facts I learned. We heard the concerns expressed by Environment Canada experts about fish living in the rivers adjacent to development sites. David Schindler had this to say:
The thing that angers me . . . is that there's been no concerted effort to find out where the truth lies.
There are people living along the rivers adjacent to these development sites. These people are worried about the quality of the water, especially their drinking water. According to Mr. Schindler, John O'Connor, a family physician, visited Fort Chipewyan to study the environmental impact on the health of individuals. He found that certain rare forms of cancer were 500 times more prevalent. Where ordinarily there is one case in 100,000, in these communities there were 5 cases in 1,000.
This is no time for a witch hunt. What we need to do is determine exactly how water-tight the ponds are, find a technology to clean up the rivers and make sure that, in future, the oils sands are developed properly and safely.
The people who are in the best position to judge are Albertans. In 2007, the Pembina Institute, which all politicians know about, said that 71 per cent of Albertans wanted the government to take a good look at the situation before going full speed ahead with development. That was when there was plenty of money for development. Now, times are tougher, and the Canadian government has to step in and provide companies with financial assistance for safe development.
In conclusion, I would just like to point out that when governments do nothing, they pay a high price. If we had acted sooner, if we had discovered technologies to reduce environmental damage due to oil sands development, if we had started five or ten years ago, when the economy was in good shape, we would not have to jeopardize the development of this resource for lack of technology.
I doubt President Obama is using his $15 billion to develop technologies for developing the oil sands. No doubt he will be looking to solar energy, wind power and bioenergy.
The example of the disaster gripping our friend, Australia, demonstrates that the new government of Kevin Rudd — who is from Queensland — is very open to these matters. He has decided to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol. We are in good company, given that the United States and President Obama have also decided to get on board. Countries such as Australia that were aligned with Mr. Bush and Mr. Harper have now decided to adopt the Kyoto Protocol.
Honourable senators, I have come to the conclusion that we must invest in this sector to avoid excessive harm to our citizens. Otherwise the price will be too high. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
In closing, I again extend my sympathy to the citizens of Australia and assure them that they can count on our collaboration to find solutions that will respect our planet and better serve our citizens.