Renaud Brossard
Vice-President, Communications, Montreal Economic Institute
Opening remarks
Actually, I will be delivering the opening remarks alone.
Meeting 9 · October 23, 2025 · 11:03–13:01 (1h 58m)
45-16 witnesses · 173 interventions · 15,445 words
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development met to study Canada's 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and the policies supporting them. Witnesses included Renaud Brossard and Gabriel Giguère from the Montreal Economic Institute, Rachel Doran from Clean Energy Canada, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Christopher Bataille from Net Zero Industry, and Merran Smith from New Economy Canada.
Renaud Brossard argued that federal environmental policies like the electric vehicle availability standard and the oil and gas emissions cap are costly and ineffective, claiming the EV mandate could require up to $294 billion in grid upgrades and that capping emissions simply shifts production to countries like Russia and Venezuela without reducing global demand. He recommended reforming project approval processes to be quick by default and urged the government to go further in pausing damaging policies.
Gabriel Giguère supported Brossard's points, stating that the emissions cap would reduce production and lead to a loss of 40,000 high-paying jobs and billions in GDP by 2032, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. He warned that combining the EV mandate with clean electricity regulations creates unrealistic and expensive demands on provincial grids, with higher marginal electricity costs ultimately paid by consumers.
Rachel Doran emphasized that Canada must focus on electrification as an economic imperative, noting that two-thirds of global energy investment now goes to clean technologies and that electrification saves households money. She recommended maintaining industrial carbon pricing, the electric vehicle availability standard, and clean electricity regulations as market signals, while complementing emissions targets with tangible metrics like heat pump installations and transmission lines built.
Premier Danielle Smith advocated for Alberta's 2050 net-zero plan, arguing that federal policies like the oil and gas emissions cap, Bill C-69, Bill C-48, and clean electricity regulations have driven over $20 billion in capital investment to the United States. She called for eliminating these "bad laws" to enable new pipelines, double oil production, and attract investment, and she disagreed with other witnesses by asserting that natural gas backup is essential for grid reliability.
Christopher Bataille noted that Canada will likely miss its 2030 targets without significant changes, as oil and gas emissions have offset reductions in other sectors for 30 years. He recommended maintaining the clean electricity regulations, zero-emission vehicle standard, and industrial carbon pricing, while supporting provinces in mandating net-zero building standards and creating programs for industrial transformation through green procurement.
Merran Smith argued that Canada's emissions reduction plan is also economic policy, as global investment in clean energy reached $3 trillion last year and trading partners are enacting border tariffs on high-carbon goods. She recommended maintaining policy certainty in the ERP to spur innovation and investment, with modifications for flexibility, and creating clearer connections between the ERP and industrial policy to accelerate both emission reductions and economic growth.
The committee also heard a procedural exchange where a member asked about scheduling the minister's appearance on her mandate, but no update was provided.
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Renaud Brossard
Vice-President, Communications, Montreal Economic Institute
Opening remarks
Actually, I will be delivering the opening remarks alone.
Rachel Doran
Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada
Opening remarks
Good morning, members of the committee.
Gabriel Giguère
Senior Policy Analyst, Montreal Economic Institute
Opening remarks
The emissions cap is obviously going to reduce production. There will also be very significant economic repercussions. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, it will mean a decline of several billion dollars in GDP by 2032, and the loss of 40,000 very high-quality jobs. I think everyone here knows that jobs in the oil and gas sector are very well paid, at about $150,000 a year. To answer your question, Ms. Anstey, if we cap emissions, Canada will indeed reduce its production. What we're doing with this type of federal public policy is banning a certain part of production. That production will then be made elsewhere, in Qatar or Venezuela, for example. As a result, Canadians will not be able to benefit from these very good jobs. Unfortunately, Canada will have no impact on global demand.
The Honourable Danielle Smith
Premier of Alberta, Government of Alberta
Opening remarks
Thank you so much, Chair Iacono and members of the committee, for inviting me to address your Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development today. I am pleased to be here to provide the committee with specific details and an update on Alberta's “Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan”. Plenty has changed since my government drafted this plan and released it in 2023, and I think it's important to outline how we are adapting to the new global geopolitical realities, energy security, affordability concerns and economic challenges facing all Canadians today. Alberta's emissions reduction and energy development plan was designed to be pragmatic and achievable and to ensure that Albertans have access to affordable and reliable energy, whether it be for commercial businesses or for individuals. Our plan is geared to a 2050 carbon-neutral economy. Alberta is a global leader in emissions reductions and has made major progress on several fronts. We were the first province to adopt a carbon price in 2007 and what we call our TIER program, which is an industrial program that is renowned for supporting innovation and research in emissions reduction in many sectors,…
Christopher Bataille
Principal Investigator, Net Zero Industry
Opening remarks
Thank you very much, Chair. This is going to run in a slightly different direction. Canada’s GHG inventory provides a clear historical record of the size and direction of our sectoral emissions. While our population and economy have been growing, power production emissions have fallen steadily, building and transport emissions have been roughly flat, and non-oil and gas industry emissions are falling slowly, while emissions from the oil and gas sector have, over the course of my career, grown enough to offset almost all of the reductions in other sectors. This pattern has been consistent for the last 30 years or so. In short, we are going too slow but in the right direction in most sectors, and very quickly in the wrong direction in oil and gas. These dynamics mean we will almost certainly not hit our 2030 targets, and will probably not hit our 2050 Paris Agreement goals without significant changes. Our existing policies are simply too weak or missing in some sectors. How do we address this in a politically realistic way? To start, in most cases for household, institutional, transport and light industrial emissions, we have options to cleanly electrify the sector, often with…
Merran Smith
President, New Economy Canada
Opening remarks
Thanks. I'm Merran Smith, president of New Economy Canada, an initiative uniting more than 60 businesses across mining, construction, cement, steel, clean energy and technology sectors, along with labour and indigenous parties, who are all committed to accelerating investment and creating jobs in Canada's clean economy future. I'm also a fellow at SFU, a former board member of B.C.'s Crown utility, BC Hydro, and—relevant to today's testimony—I'm currently appointed by the B.C. government to conduct an independent review of their climate plan, CleanBC. I'm happy to talk in the Q and A about our findings, about what's working, not working and what needs updating, as B.C.'s plan started in 2018, with policies similar to the federal ERP, such as the methane regs, industrial pricing, oil and gas cap, EV mandate and others. I want to begin by situating Canada's ERP plan in the global economic context, recognizing Canada's urgent need to diversify our trading relationships. First, global investment in clean energy is soaring and costs are plummeting. Last year, $3 trillion—yes, trillion—went into renewables, nuclear, grids, storage and electrification. That's double what went into…