ENVI Committee Report

Unleashing Clean Technology – not Taxes

Conservatives believe in technology, not taxes, as a tool to fight climate change. Raising the cost of gas, groceries, and home heating with a 61 cents per litre carbon tax is not a credible climate plan – it is merely a tax plan to punish hard-working Canadians.

Unfortunately, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois believe the only way to fight climate change is through a carbon tax that increases the cost of everything.

Despite claiming that their costly carbon tax would address climate change, the current Liberal government has failed to meet a single climate target.

Increasing the cost of living on Canadians has not, and will not, address climate change. Investing in clean technology will.

That is why Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development proposed this study on clean technology.

Conservatives were hopeful that members of this committee, regardless of their political party, would put aside ideologically driven beliefs and consider all testimony without demonizing or idolising specific technologies or policies.

However, Conservatives cannot fully support the report Support for Clean Technologies in Canada to Reduce Domestic and International Greenhouse Gas Emissions (hereafter, “the report”), as it fails to consider all types of energy and technology.

We are disappointed that common sense, clean technologies such as nuclear energy, hydroelectricity, tidal power, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage, were not given adequate consideration in the report by members of the committee.

By not considering all sources of clean technology, the report is failing to accept the clean technologies needed to fight climate change.

When testifying on the importance of utilising all clean technologies available to address climate change, Electricity Canada stated:

“…Canada will need to lean on all available options, including more renewables, traditional hydro and transmission, as well as emerging technologies such as small modular reactors, carbon capture, energy storage and hydrogen. Balancing all of this alongside affordability and reliability will be a monumental effort”[1]

Conservatives believe that in order to address climate change in Canada, the Government of Canada needs to green-light green technology and allow Canadians to invent and commercialise clean technology.

Conservatives also believe that by removing government-imposed red tape and regulatory roadblocks, Canada has the potential to become a leader in commercializing clean technologies for global export.

The report fails to recognize the magnitude of barriers that the current Liberal government’s policies and regulations are having on clean technology in Canada.

As Electricity Canada testified:

“There have been announcements of projects, most recently in Labrador with the hydrogen project, for which we're told there could be a period of about two years to build the project, but, boy, to site a project and to go through all the hoops required to get a project moving forward, we're talking a decade.”[2]

Liberal, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois members of the committee also failed to acknowledge the significant investments that Canadian energy companies have made in clean technology.

According to a written submission by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers:

“…the domestic oil and natural gas industry is Canada’s largest investor in cleantech, accounting for 75% of the total annual spend of $1.4 billion.”[3]

Conservative members of the committee are concerned that the report views clean technology as a way to phase out Canada’s natural resources industry instead of as a common sense means to ensure a clean, long-term future for the industry and its workers.

Instead of taxing Canadians while failing to address climate change, Conservatives believe in unleashing clean technology.

Therefore, His Majesty’s Official Opposition makes the following recommendation:

Recommendation 1

That the Government of Canada axe their costly and failed carbon tax and instead invest in the approval, commercialisation, and exportation of clean technologies.

Recommendation 2

That the Government of Canada eliminate their burdensome regulatory environment that is preventing clean technology projects from being approved in a timely and predictable manner.

Recommendation 3

That the Government of Canada recognize the significant investments that Canada’s energy industry has made in clean technologies.