RNNR Committee Report

BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS DISSENTING OPINION TO THE REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES ON THE EXAMINATION OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF INTEGRATED APPROACHES FOR PROVIDING ENERGY SERVICES IN CANADIAN COMMUNITIES

PRESENTED TO THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
June 2009

First of all, the Bloc Québécois wishes to thank all the witnesses who appeared before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources during the hearings in Ottawa. Their input helps us understand the various opportunities and benefits of an integrated energy approach.

The Bloc Québécois supports the objectives of the Committee’s study on the whole and commends all parliamentarians for their interest in the effective and integrated use of energy in communities.

While this study did produce a number of findings and provided for the exploration of solutions to the issue, the Bloc Québécois cannot support this report and has serious reservations about some of the recommendations.

The adoption of an integrated energy approach in communities would provide for the more effective use of resources and would save energy. According to the report, this approach is warranted by the fact that communities’ energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are estimated at half of total consumption and emissions in Canada. Moreover, the participation of this sector is considered necessary to achieving the greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the federal government.

Let us recall that the federal government made the ideological choice to ignore its commitment to climate change and to disregard its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

At the same time, provinces such as Quebec have made considerable efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

So it is entirely inappropriate to attempt to impose urban development models right across Canada to make up for the government’s lack of rigour and willingness to introduce serious regulations and to offset the generosity that some industries have benefited from to date.

Moreover, the strategy recommended in this report blithely encroaches on matters under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces and seeks to establish a direct dialogue with municipalities, which is obviously not the federal government’s role. In this regard, both the governing party and the opposition parties show a paternalistic and centralist attitude whereas the Bloc Québécois firmly believes that Canada needs approaches that reflect regional realities and that the best way to achieve conclusive results is to allow Quebec and the provinces to make their own choices in matters under their jurisdiction.

In this regard, the Bloc Québécois maintains that federal leadership can be relevant provided that Quebec and the provinces receive sufficient resources and the freedom to make their respective choices. In the opinion of the Bloc Québécois, the federal government clearly should not develop a national energy policy or set electricity fees, for instance. The program budgets referred to in the recommendations should be transferred unconditionally, with full control given to the provinces and territories.

Workforce training, education and land management and development are all areas under provincial jurisdiction in which the report’s recommendations encourage the federal government to play a role. This is completely unacceptable to the Bloc Québécois.