Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Oshawa.

I rise today to defend a very concrete reality that is often overlooked when political decisions are being made in Ottawa or Quebec City. I am talking about the reality of the regions, and my region in particular. Beauce is proud, hard-working, entrepreneurial rural region, where people get up early, work hard and do not wait on others when they need to get ahead in life. In Beauce, we continue to build our homes to produce results and keep our regional economy going. We need our gas-powered cars and trucks.

Electric transportation is a good idea. However, it is not realistic in the regions. Yes, electrifying transportation is a noble goal; we agree with that. Yes, the goal should be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; we all agree on that. However, the caveat is that regions like Beauce cannot be asked to make the leap without any infrastructure. There is no efficient public transit system in my region. There is no subway or streetcar. There is not even a bus system anywhere in the Beauce region. There are no fast-charging stations. I have heard plenty of people say that there are some here. In my area, they are not on every street corner. In many villages, the first charging station is 30 kilometres or even 40 kilometres away. In the winter, the range drops quickly when it is -30 degrees and there is a trailer hitched to the truck. Before thinking about forcing the transition, we need to ask ourselves a basic question: Is it feasible on the ground? In many regions, the answer is simply no.

People in Beauce use trucks for work. The Beauce region is full of entrepreneurs, SMEs, construction workers, farmers and transportation workers. People here deliver materials, transport bales of hay, install roofing and build houses. To do so, they need reliable heavy-duty trucks that can handle job sites, gravel roads and icy hills, and most importantly, these vehicles need to be long-range. In Beauce, electric vehicles do not really meet our needs. They are more expensive to buy, heavier and shorter-range. It is even worse in the winter, when it is impossible to do a hard day's work without recharging.

The other day, tool boxes were mentioned in connection with Beauce. What the minister does not realize is that our tool boxes are not little hand-held ones. In Beauce, our tool boxes are enclosed trailers towed behind pickup trucks. Has anyone here ever tried to hook up a trailer to an electric car? The range is 100 kilometres, and half that in the winter. That would not even get us out of the Beauce region. I will ask a simple question. How many construction sites have my colleagues seen that have a fast-charging station? The answer is zero. In Beauce, there are none.

It is also a matter of freedom and dignity. Putting an end to gas-powered vehicles also means imposing an urban lifestyle on rural areas. It ignores the fact that for many people in Beauce, their truck is not a luxury but a work tool and an extension of their workshop. It is a small business on four wheels. People in the regions are not against the energy transition. They want to take part, but not to their own detriment and not by sacrificing their independence, performance and livelihoods. We cannot tell them to sell their truck and to buy and make do with a vehicle that costs twice as much but that does not do the job. That makes no sense.

What we need here is for the government to be realistic and to listen. It is time for the Liberal government to listen to Canadians, including those in the regions. Once again, it is important to adapt to rural reality and stop copying the big urban centres. Let us talk a bit about the false promise of uniformity. What we are experiencing today is bureaucratic pressure to apply the same rules to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal as to Saint‑Éphrem‑de‑Beauce. The government needs to give that some more thought. What works on the Island of Montreal does not work in rang 9 of Saint‑Gédéon‑de‑Beauce. That is not an opinion. It is a fact.

In many regions, the transition to electric can only be done once charging stations are installed, prices come down, electric trucks achieve a range comparable to that of gas-powered vehicles, and the infrastructure follows. In the meantime, cutting access to gas-powered vehicles penalizes our workers and holds back our entrepreneurs. A just transition is a customized transition. No one here is saying that we should fight progress. What I am saying is that a brutal transition should not be forced on the regions. Gas-powered trucks should continue to be allowed, available and supported. It is simply unreasonable to say that they will be banned in 10 years' time.

If the government really wants to help the regions, it should invest in charging stations in rural areas, not just in major cities. It should invest in road infrastructure and support local garages so that they can maintain and repair electric vehicles, which cost a fortune. We have a shortage of mechanics. The government should offer realistic subsidies for vehicles that are adapted to the needs of the construction and agriculture industries, which are too often overlooked. Above all, the government should listen to the regions instead of telling them what to do once again.

Beauce is an example of an economy on four wheels. Every truck, van and pickup in Beauce is a tool for economic development. Farmers get their produce to market. Contractors transport their materials from Sainte‑Marie to Saint‑Isidore. Construction workers who leave home at 5 a.m. and go to three job sites during the day all need a reliable vehicle that can handle whatever challenges the road throws at them. Telling them that they should give up their gas‑powered trucks without a credible alternative shows contempt for their reality.

The Liberal government is being unrealistic. The Liberals have been unrealistic and inconsistent from the very start in their reasoning and in their timeline for this decree.

First, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture said that the government would no longer invest in new highways and local streets, but electric vehicles still need roads to travel on. Second, switching millions of vehicles to electric will result in a significant increase in energy demand. Is Canada's grid prepared to handle this massive volume of electricity? Moreover, several provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan still rely on fossil fuels to generate their electricity. The grid will need to be modernized quickly or else the environmental gains will be negated.

Lastly, EV batteries require critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, which create pollution during extraction and recycling and are often controlled by countries such as China. Canada has mineral resources, but its extraction and processing capacity lags far behind demand. Canada does not even have a clear national strategy or the large‑scale industrial infrastructure to recycle its batteries.

I am asking the government to show some respect for the regions. Let me be clear today. I support the energy transition, innovation and electric vehicles. I have no problem with any of that, but it must not be done at the expense of Canadians and the regions. We need to give the market time to adapt. We need to listen to the needs on the ground. Most importantly, we need to show respect for workers in construction, agriculture and logistics. They are the ones who keep Quebec running, the real Quebec, not just a theoretical version of it. In Beauce, we are moving forward, but not blindly. We want to participate in the transition, but in a way that makes sense.

I would invite all of my colleagues to think carefully and vote in favour of this common-sense Conservative motion.

Jason Groleau

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