Remarks: Regulatory Framework
Environment Minister John Baird, P.C. M.P.
April 25, 2007
Introduction
Good afternoon
Greenhouse gases are rising.
The climate is changing.
Winter is disappearing as we know it.
Air pollution is getting worse.
The air we breathe is dirtier than ever
before.
We need to Turn the Corner.
After 13 years of inaction by the Liberal
government, Canada is going in the wrong
on the environment.
Since the Liberals promised to reduce greenhouse
gases in 1997, they have only gone up.
They promised to meet Kyoto, but went in
the opposite direction.
This is how we find ourselves today with
one of the worst environmental records among
industrialized countries.
Now, we need to turn things around.
We need to do a U-Turn.
On behalf of all Canadians, particular our
youngest citizens, we need to find a better
way.
Instead of greenhouse gases going up, we
believe they should go down.
Instead of putting more carbon into the
air, we believe we should put less.
Instead of our air getting dirtier, we think
it should get cleaner.
Instead of childhood asthma rates rising,
we think they should be declining.
Canada’s New Government’s Turning the Corner
plan will stop the rise in greenhouse gases
in 3-5 years.
The previous government was never able to
put on the brakes. We will do that beginning
today.
Once greenhouse gases have stopped rising,
we will begin to reduce them, so that by
2020, Canada will have cut its greenhouse
gas emissions by 150 million tonnes. This
is 20% of our total emissions today.
If the Liberal government had instituted
this plan in 1998 when they signed Kyoto,
Canada would have achieved its emissions
target.
Canada would be at Kyoto today.
Sadly, the real international commitments
were only followed by empty rhetoric.
The same story is true for air pollution.
The Liberals did nothing to fight air pollution,
but watch our air get dirtier.
We will impose stringent targets on industry
so that air pollutant emissions is cut in
half by 2015.
We will accomplish our goals with a concrete
and realistic plan to regulate industrial
air emissions.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Canadian industry is today served notice
that it will have become more efficient
in order to reduce greenhouse gases and
air pollution.
We will do this by mandating strict targets
for industry.
Firms will have access to a few tools to
meet their targets. They will be able to:
make in-house reductions,
take advantage of domestic emissions trading,
purchase offsets,
use the Clean Development Mechanism under
the Kyoto Protocol, and,
invest in a technology fund.
The design of this plan will give industry
several tools to achieve real reductions.
We believe the market can help play a role.
We will explore domestic trading as well
as future linkages with emissions trading
systems in the U.S., and possibly Mexico.
Our one test for any emissions trading system
will be that it is first and foremost in
the best interest of Canada.
We want the Canadian industrial sector
to be making real contributions here at
home, now and in the future.
To achieve medium and long term reductions,
industry will need to find some new solutions
that don’t exist today – such as a way to
capture carbon and store it in the ground.
Our capped technology fund will help industry
develop the solutions to produce deep reductions
in greenhouse gases over time. This is true
especially for electricity generation and
oil sands development.
The fund is capped to ensure that it doesn’t
become a tax on industry and to ensure it
isn’t used by industry to pay its way out
of achieving real reductions.
The development of new technologies will
benefit the global effort to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. It will allow Canada to become
a leader in new green technologies, with
potential export markets around the world.
We will not allow good actors to go unrecognized.
Companies who reduced their greenhouse gas
emissions prior to 2006 will also be rewarded
with a one-time credit for early action.
Our Turning the Corner plan will achieve
real reductions in greenhouse gases, while
helping make Canadian industry more efficient
and more competitive on the global stage.
Air pollution
Air pollution is also a real concern for
Canadians.
With our plan, we will begin to turn back
the hands of time on a record of rising
air pollution over the last 13 years.
Our plan sets overall national fixed emissions
caps for industrial pollutants that cause
smog and acid rain.
We will target:
Nitrogen oxides (NOx),
Sulphur oxides (SOx),
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and
Particulate matter (PM)
The plan will produce real results that
Canadians will be able to see - a cut in
half of air pollutant emissions by 2015.
We will also take action to help make common
consumer and commercial products -- such
as dishwashers, refrigerators and air conditioners
– more energy more efficient.
Yesterday, along with Gary Lunn, the Minister
of Natural Resources, our government announced
the banning of inefficient light bulbs.
Improved energy efficiency, means less
wasted energy and less air pollution.
With our real plan, we also recognize that
Canadians spend 90 percent of their time
indoors, where they are exposed to various
pollutants.
Therefore, we will take action to improve
the quality of the air we breathe indoors
starting with the identification of the
most harmful pollutants in our homes and
our offices.
The benefits of this plan are real -- cleaner
communities, healthier children, fewer premature
deaths, and more sustainable natural resources.
Significant health benefits linked to air
improvement are expected to lead every year
to:
920 less cases of chronic bronchitis;
1,260 fewer hospital admissions and emergency
room visits;
5,600 fewer cases of child acute bronchitis;
170,000 fewer asthma incidences; and,
1,200 fewer premature deaths related to
air pollution;
Our plan includes an aggressive strategy
on air pollution because it is critical
to the health of each and every Canadian.
It’s too important to ignore.
Maintaining our economic growth
This is an ambitious plan -- one that will
require resolve, and one that comes with
some costs. Part of these costs will be
paid by individual Canadians and their families.
The costs are real but they are manageable.
When fully mature, by 2020, total costs
will be in the range of $XX per Canadian
in today’s dollars. This could include price
increases for consumer products like vehicles,
natural gas, electricity, household appliances
and even groceries. We need to be prepared
for this extra responsibility if we are
going to get the job done.
All Canadians have a key role to play --
by taking action as consumers, as employees,
as business people, as parents, and as responsible
citizens, we will turn the corner.
Conclusion
Some people will be critical of our plan,
saying that it doesn’t go far enough, while
others will say that we are going too far.
Some environmentalists may want perfection.
Some in industry may want nothing.
Our government recognizes that we were
going in the wrong direction and we need
to correct course.
We will not spin the wheel so hard as to
put the Canadian economy in the ditch to
deliver environmental plan asked for in
some quarters.
We will also not keep going in the same
direction, as some others wish us to do.
We will turn the corner, with a balanced
plan that recognizes the urgent need to
act on the environment, while also respecting
our responsibility to keep Canadian families
working
Thank you.
