QUESTION PERIOD — Environment and Climate Change
Clean Fuel Regulations
June 20, 2024
Senator Gold, on June 23 last year, the four Atlantic premiers sent a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the Clean Fuel Regulations, which were imposed upon them on July 1, 2023. A news release regarding that letter stated:
After weeks of waiting for information from Minister Guilbeault about options to reduce the impact of implementing the Clean Fuel Regulations, the Minister presented no new information or possible solutions to mitigate impact. Minister Guilbeault continues to state that the numbers his department has are different from those released by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, but refuses to share that information with the four Atlantic provinces, despite repeated requests.
Senator Gold, did the minister ever provide those figures to the premiers of Atlantic Canada last year, as they requested, yes or no?
I’m not in a position to answer the specific question. I do know that the government works — ministers with their counterparts, and the Prime Minister with his counterparts — on a whole range of questions that affect federal-provincial interactions. That includes climate change.
There’s no question that if we’re going to succeed in addressing the existential crisis that climate change poses to us, it will require the collaboration and willing participation of provincial and territorial leaders, the federal government, industry and all Canadian citizens.
I think they’re willing. They just want some information back that they can work with.
Last year, when it came to the impact of the Clean Fuel Regulations, the minister disputed the report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, and kept his figures from the premiers. This year, regarding the impact of the carbon tax, the minister again discredited the PBO, put him under a gag order and tried to hide the numbers.
This is a clear pattern of behaviour from this minister. Why can’t the minister come clean with the Atlantic premiers so they can make some decisions?
Senator MacDonald, as I stated in response to similar questions on several occasions, it is not the case that the government is hiding information. I responded on many occasions to the differences in the analysis presented by the PBO and the government, and the government stands by its analysis.
