The committee was studying Canada's ability to meet its 2030 emissions reduction targets and improve climate competitiveness. Appearing were Catherine Potvin (emeritus professor, McGill University), Amy Nugent (Oceans North), Wendell LaBobe and Graeme Reed (Assembly of First Nations), Sophia Mathur (as an individual), Jim Keating (Oil and Gas Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador), and Margareta Dovgal (Resource Works Society).
Catherine Potvin said forests are approaching a tipping point where they emit rather than capture carbon, citing the 2023 Quebec wildfires. She urged electric interprovincial connections, improved rail transportation, and support for energy-efficient homes and low-carbon vehicles, and argued that eliminating consumer carbon pricing removed a key revenue source for investment in low-carbon alternatives.
Amy Nugent said Canada's ports must be modernized as clean-energy hubs to capture a projected $1-trillion market for zero-emission marine fuels. She recommended electrifying ferries and workboats, which would reduce emissions and improve local health, and noted that a national marine climate action plan promised in the emissions reduction plan has not yet been developed.
Wendell LaBobe and Graeme Reed said first nations were not consulted on the climate competitiveness strategy or on Bill C-5, and that the government risks backsliding on both climate commitments and reconciliation. They called for free, prior and informed consent, application of a first nations climate lens, and a shift away from technological and market-based solutions toward approaches rooted in reciprocity with the land.
Sophia Mathur, an 18-year-old climate activist, said she has attended climate meetings since age seven and urged the committee to keep promises to the next generation. She argued that misinformation on social media makes it harder to discuss climate policies like carbon pricing, and expressed disappointment that political debate often prioritizes money over the lives of young people.
Jim Keating said the proposed emissions cap has halted offshore exploration in Newfoundland and Labrador, with no exploration wells drilled for the first time in 25 years and no bids in recent licence rounds. He argued the cap acts as an investment cap and urged abandoning it in favour of carbon pricing in the $75-to-$100-per-tonne range and practical regulatory decarbonization, noting his province reinvests oil profits into renewable hydro power.
Margareta Dovgal said the 2030 emissions reduction plan is built on models that assume unproven technologies and that policies like the oil and gas emissions cap, methane regulations, the clean fuel standard, the EV mandate, and the clean electricity standard are ill-suited to economic reality. She argued these policies will lead to deindustrialization rather than genuine emissions reductions, and that carbon credits lack integrity without double-entry bookkeeping.
The committee heard disagreement between witnesses: Potvin and Mathur supported carbon pricing and accelerated climate action, while Keating and Dovgal argued the emissions cap and related policies undermine investment and competitiveness. Reed noted the AFN has not taken a position on the industrial carbon price under Prime Minister Carney, and Dovgal said her organization has no defined view on industrial carbon pricing. No procedural debate, motions, or votes occurred during this meeting.
AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.