Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2021-05-06 23:23 [p.6877]
Madam Speaker, as a former practising lawyer, I would just say that the notion that keeps being repeated here, that Canada has the toughest environmental regulations in the world, is absurd. The U.S. has always had tougher environmental laws than Canada, and ours were weakened in the Harper years and have not been repaired.
I wanted to draw attention to the hon. member’s claim, which is true, that the industry has improved and reduced the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of oil. He went back to the early 1990s. At that time, Canada produced less than half a million barrels a day. We are now six times higher than that. When we reduce the amount of pollution per barrel and then more than quadruple production, increase it six times, we obviously do have an increase in pollution, despite the fact that the pollution per barrel goes down.
I just wanted to draw that to the member’s attention, although this debate has nothing to do with greenhouse gases per barrel. This is about the pollution if the pipeline breaks.
James Cumming (Edmonton Centre)
2021-05-06 23:24 [p.6877]
Madam Speaker, I will agree to disagree. I still think that Canada can be a major producer of energy products and displace others who are not doing it to the same standards. Quite frankly, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil.