Conservative concerns about cap-and-trade have apparently not eased, but, on Thursday, Conservative MP Rick Dykstra was also moved to note the seventh anniversary of the Conservative party forming government.
Mr. Speaker, it has been seven years since Canadians placed their confidence, trust and unwavering support in this Conservative government. Since then we have kept our promises. We have delivered results. We will continue to work hard for this great nation. Our government remains focused on the economy, on families, safe communities and pride in being a Canadian citizen.
Unfortunately, the Leader of the Opposition and his party have a different agenda that will hurt Canada and hurt Canadians. Listed on page 4 of the NDP’s party platform, in black and white, is a $20 billion carbon tax. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition even said that of course he has a cap-and-trade program that “will produce billions”.
Our government will continue to fight this job-killing, $20 billion carbon tax, stand up for Canada and make sure that we make all Canadian citizens proud of what we do as a government.
Two of the promises yet to be kept by Mr. Dykstra’s side: to establish a price on carbon and pursue a cap-and-trade system. (The Conservative suggestion of cap-and-trade is actually older than the Harper government, dating to 2004.)
We are a month late to the celebration of the fifth anniversary of John Baird championing a price a carbon. But less than three weeks from now we can celebrate the fifth anniversary of Jim Flaherty standing in the House and committing $66 million to “to lay the foundation for market based mechanisms that will establish a price for carbon and support the development of carbon trading in Canada.”
Also mark your calendar for May 29, when the country will mark the fifth anniversary of Stephen Harper telling a London audience that “Canadian industries that do not meet their emission reduction targets will be required to do one of three things. They will have access to a domestic carbon trading system which will include offset credits for non-industrial practices that reduce emissions. We eventually hope to participate in a North American trading regime, depending on what action the United States takes, and I’ll talk about that in a second. We likewise hope to participate someday in a more mature and robust emissions trading regime internationally. As well, industries will have access to credits through the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism … I should mention that while our plan will effectively establish a price on carbon of $65 a tonne, growing to that rate over the next decade, our Government has opted not to apply carbon taxes.”