A corresponding block motion was accepted and supported by the Liberals and the New Democrats.
Passed by 210 votes to 115, the text calls not only for addressing the effects of climate change, particularly wildfires, but also for cutting federal funding for the hydrocarbon industry and for more green investment.
We put pressure on […] end all subsidies, all financial support, whether tax credits, subsidies or otherwise, to the oil companies. It has to stop, said Bloc Québécois parliament leader Alain Therrien on Monday hours before the federal elected officials voted.
Environment Secretary Steven Guilbeault told the Canadian Press in an interview last week that the federal government believes it is already on track to respond to the funding component of the fossil fuel industry proposal.
International subsidies for fossil fuels were abolished last year. […] It’s part of our deal with the NDP [de le faire d’ici la fin de l’année]. “We will respect that commitment,” he assured.
He had claimed that the government was on the final path to fully fulfilling its promise.
Different interpretations
Since the 2015 election campaign that allowed Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to win their first of three consecutive mandates, they have promised to cut subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
This commitment, which Canada also made at the G20 summit, has not been kept since then. In their most recent campaign manifesto in 2021, the Liberals pledged that this would happen by the end of 2023.
However, bloc members disagree with the liberal interpretation of what is and is not a federal subsidy to the hydrocarbon industry.
For example, some say subsidies for carbon capture and storage [que] it is a grant [au secteur des] fossil fuels, Mr Guilbeault admitted on his own initiative last week.
To which the minister replied that the hydrocarbon sector must be supported in the implementation of green projects. Insofar as we help the aluminum sector, cement plants, steel industry and forestry to decarbonize, from an ethical point of view the government cannot say: “Well you, we help you, but you, we do not help you”, he had defended himself . And I understand that not everyone agrees here.
The bloc regrets that this funding will be continued with renewed vigour
When asked about Minister Guilbault’s argument on Monday, Mr Therrien replied that oil will never be green. In his opinion, this allows the oil companies to keep increasing their production while committing to having a barrel of oil that has less impact on the environment.
In his eyes, it’s also clear that federal funding for the fossil fuel industry isn’t really decreasing.
“Facts are stubborn. You only have to look at the numbers and the budgets and you get the picture […] that there are subsidies or tax credits that go to these working companies [dans le domaine] fossil fuels. You don’t need to have a Ph.D. in math to figure that out. »
– A quote from Alain Therrien, Speaker of the Bloc Québécois House of Representatives
The New Democrats are on the same wavelength: during the debate on this motion, they specifically recalled the acquisition of the Trans-Mountain pipeline by the Trudeau administration.
“We are an oil and gas producing country and we have a liberal government that promotes, subsidizes and pays our public money to produce even more gas and oil,” said NDP Deputy Chair Alexandre Boulerice.
The Conservatives resigned Monday with an independent MP by voting against the bloc motion.
“I’m all for our oil sector in western Canada,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said last Thursday. It’s a very good sector that funds our social services.