Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House to speak about the environment. On February 1, I asked the Liberal government a question regarding the scathing report tabled by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, which confirmed what Canadians were thinking all along: the Liberals' purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline was not a good decision.

In addition to making this bad decision, the Liberals overpaid for this aging infrastructure that will only lose value. They invested $4.5 billion of taxpayers' money in obsolete technology, in yesterday's energy. That is the complete opposite of what we need to do to fight climate change, which is to stop subsidizing fossil fuel, as scientists in Canada and around the world are calling for.

The Conservatives like to make claims about environmentalists, which I think is shameful. They forget that environmentalists are not the only ones saying we need to tackle climate change. Every scientist out there, including those in fields such as health and biology, is saying it, so we need to pay attention. We cannot just say lobbyists and interest groups are the only ones who want us to fight climate change. The truth is that this is a scientific fact.

All those people say we need to stop subsidizing oil and gas companies, and what do the Liberals do? Unfortunately, they follow in the Conservatives' footsteps. They keep subsidizing oil and gas companies to the tune of some $2 billion per year, and they bought the Trans Mountain pipeline.

As the Conservatives said earlier, their party wants to move forward. They want to develop what they call an energy corridor. They use that term to make it sound like something good, but what it really means is that they want to build more pipelines and resurrect energy east, an idea the Liberals have not discarded either, actually. That is very worrisome because it flies in the face of Canadians' desire to fight climate change.

Speaking of the environment, I would like to recognize the excellent work of the Saint-Joseph citizens' committee in Drummondville. They have a clean and green neighbourhood project that involves organizing events to raise awareness of the importance of keeping their neighbourhood clean. I commend the residents of this vibrant community and Guillaume Pariseau, chair of the Saint-Joseph citizens' committee, for their excellent work. This is just one example of the wonderful initiatives being undertaken by the people of Drummond, who are doing their part to fight pollution, improve our well-being and help save the environment.

In that respect, we have begun proposing a plan to fight climate change. That plan will continue to be unveiled over the coming weeks. It includes an energy efficiency retrofit program to help fight climate change. Such a program used to exist, but unfortunately the Conservatives cut it and the Liberals did not bring it back, even though it was extremely useful. It worked and was very popular with Canadians. I would like to remind members that buildings are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. This program would help Canadians save money, have more energy efficient buildings and fight climate change.

Why did the government not make a plan like that and why is it continuing to subsidize fossil fuels, for example by purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline?

François Choquette

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Adjournment Proceedings

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