Transcription:
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House tonight, in Adjournment Proceedings, to pursue a question I asked on a memorable date, November 17, 2025. It was a day on which we were going to vote later in the day on the budget itself.
My question pertained to the budget. It was for the Prime Minister. In that instance, I asked him if he would agree that there was a deficiency in the budget, in that our legally binding Paris Agreement commitments were not mentioned and that we had not yet seen what was described as a nature strategy: Canada’s commitments under COP15 of the biodiversity convention, otherwise known as the Kunming-Montreal agreement.
It was a very strong answer, but there have been some inconsistencies. The Prime Minister did respond, and it is important to repeat it for the purpose of the Hansard.
He stated:
I can confirm to the House that we will respect our Paris commitments for climate change, and we are determined to achieve them. I can confirm with the House that consistent with our Kunming-Montreal commitments, the nature strategy will be released in the coming weeks.
The Prime Minister also mentioned that it was important that we be “on the path for real results for climate, for nature and for reconciliation.”
My question at this hour is this. Now that we are looking at the answer that was received, and since then the changes that have been made in government planning, we are still, according to all reports, not on track to meet our Paris Agreement targets. We can measure things in weeks, but certainly “the coming weeks” suggested that we would see the nature strategy relatively quickly. This was November 17. We are now almost four months later and have not yet seen the nature strategy.
I certainly hope that someone representing the Prime Minister here this evening can update the House on when we are on getting the nature strategy brought forward. It is critical if we are going to meet the commitments that are due by 2030, it now being 2026, that we see action, that we see commitments and that we see funding.
It is also important to mention, and I look for any kind of an update on climate commitments, that the budget that was tabled that day and that we voted on shortly after this exchange in question period included, at page 348, a clear commitment that what are called enhanced oil recovery measures would not qualify for investment tax credits. However, some days later, not that long thereafter, a commitment was made to the Government of Alberta in an MOU that such investments to increase oil production would in fact qualify for further subsidies to encourage further oil production. This was contrary to the exact wording of the budget we had voted on that day, which said “Eligible uses include” and then listed some, but not enhanced oil recovery.
That left us in this place, and across Canada I might add, with some significant questions about where we are as a nation. What can we make of the commitment of November 17 that we will act to avoid exceeding a 2°C global average temperature increase and will take steps to ensure that the nature strategy and our commitments globally are observed?
I note at this hour, as my time is running out on putting forward my argument in this late show proceeding, that time is also running out for the climate. We are dealing with atmospheric changes that are irreversible and can be self-accelerating without quick action.
I look forward to this debate.