Dane Lloyd

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight to the member for Calgary Centre that I will be reading my original speech today. I would also like to wish the Speaker a happy Friday. I can see that everybody appears to be in a great and jovial mood today. I suspect they are all feeling very cheerful having read yesterday’s budget. Yesterday, our government released our budget, masters in our own House or, as we say in French, Maîtres chez nous. I would like to take the next 10 minutes to talk about an important budget. As members know, the expression maîtres chez nous is a slogan that was used during the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. It was an expression that was used during the campaign to nationalize electricity in the 1960s, before my time. It represents our natural resources, or protecting our lakes and rivers, but it also represents protecting our culture, our identity and our pride in being Canadian. Budget 2026 is about action, so let me outline why this budget advances many of these priorities. Yes, the front cover of the budget includes transmission lines from Churchill Falls in Newfoundland and Labrador, and that is because electricity is at the heart of this budget. Let me go through some of those measures that would advance Canada’s electricity strategy. Budget 2026 invests $50 billion in Canada’s electricity strategy, but $50 billion is more than money, though. It is about real results. New Economy Canada mentioned last night that “Budget 2026 puts electrification at the heart of Canada’s economy, ensuring energy security and affordability for businesses and households.” What would $50 billion get us? It would get us four things. First, our government’s electricity strategy is about building infrastructure, because we must build really fast. Last year, I had the honour of reading Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance, which I highly recommend. This book is important because it calls for a shift toward supply-side progressivism, where the state must actively build and reform zoning and permitting laws, but invest in large-scale physical infrastructure to electrify the economy. This $50-billion investment would do that. It would electrify the economy. When I worked in climate philanthropy, we worked with technical modelling and with partners like the Canadian Climate Institute, l’Institut de l’énergie Trottier, the David Suzuki Foundation, The Pembina Institute or The Transition Accelerator, and all modelling demonstrated that for Canada to get to net zero, we would need to at least double our electricity grid. Yesterday’s budget puts money where our mouth is. This investment in Canada’s electricity strategy is about connecting grids. In a turbulent world, we need to better integrate our provinces and territories, and this includes our complex regional electricity grids. There are 31 transmission lines that cross Canada to the U.S. border, north to south. However, to protect our sovereignty and strengthen our federation, we are now investing in integrating our grid from east to west to north. We are doing this to unify our country and to grow our economy while reducing emissions. My third point is that our $50-billion electricity strategy is about making technological components to power our grid and build our capacity and value chains. This is a unique opportunity to advance clean-tech value chains where Canada holds a strong competitive advantage. This is an opportunity for us to advance batteries and electrochemical storage, advance electricity grid equipment and infrastructure, utilize our Canadian-made critical minerals and advance our nuclear energy with CANDU technology, but also with small modular reactors. It is also an opportunity to advance hydro, solar and wind renewable energy. My fourth point is that our investment in electricity is about jobs and it is about labour. We need the skills and labour to help build out the grid and ensure support for great Canadian jobs across our country. I would also like to highlight some other measures from budget 2026 that would advance Canada’s electricity strategy. One, clean electricity investment tax credits phase-out to 15% would now occur in 2040 instead of 2034. This is positive news for the clean-tech sector. Two, this budget encourages more investment in electricity transmission and does so by extending the clean electricity ITCs for provincial electricity transmission lines in each province, with $2.4 billion allocated in 2027 to 2031 and $36 billion allocated by 2042. This is about building Canada strong. Third, it promises that $4 billion over 10 years would be provided to support electricity infrastructure expansion, renewable energy and new funding for the smart renewables and electrification pathways program. Fourth, the budget would support robust cost-benefit analysis to better understand interties and inform cross-border cost allocation discussions. Building out transmission lines and interties is not always a technical problem. It is often one of governance, of navigating complex provincial jurisdictions and challenges with social acceptability. According to Electricity Canada’s statement last night on budget 2026, modernizing our grid is a “nation-building endeavour.” This is about building real projects. For example, our budget would now allow the building of a 15-megawatt hydro facility in the Yukon, as well as an eight-megawatt hydro facility in Atlin. This is in addition to the massive 14,000 megawatts at Churchill Falls. We will be building more clean renewable projects for decades to come. I spoke about grids and electricity, but let us talk about buildings and how budget 2026 benefits the decarbonization of our buildings. As Clean Energy Canada announced last night, “Budget 2026 offers a new framework for climate progress: build, switch, transform, and innovate.” Last month, our government announced a transformative $2-billion investment in a national heat pump rebate program, which will benefit one million Canadian homes and reduce 25 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, while significantly reducing energy costs and creating jobs throughout the country. Whether Canadians are wearing a better parka to keep ourselves warm in the winter or installing a heat pump to reduce our energy bills, Canadians understand that staying warm should not mean wasting energy. Canadians also keep more money in their pocket. I am thrilled that budget 2026 renews the green industrial facilities and manufacturing program, which, to my knowledge, is now called SHIFT, the strategic high-efficiency industrial facilities transition program. This $400-million investment will help optimize energy efficiency for Canadian industrial and manufacturing facilities in a way that will help us remain competitive while also lowering carbon emissions. As a strong advocate of energy efficiency measures, I am also deeply excited for the renewal of DRE, or the deep retrofit accelerator initiative. Let us discuss transportation as well. We know that nearly one-fifth of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the vehicles on our roads. Do members know that nearly 25% of global car sales this year will be electric vehicles? That is right. Everyone looks really impressed. Globally, one in four vehicles sold will be electric, and by 2030, 40% of new car sales will be EVs. The opposition is very excited about this change. Canada is huge, and we need infrastructure to change our cars. We need larger charging networks to connect Canadians, including rural communities. This is why I am electrified that budget 2026 supports the installation of 55,000 new EV chargers. That is about $600 million invested over five years to renew the zero-emission vehicle infrastructure program. This investment would mean 55,000 new EV chargers across Canada, with 9,000 in Quebec, 23,000 in Ontario, 17,000 in B.C. and many in Alberta and elsewhere. As I wrap up, I would like to highlight a few other measures. The first one is on sustainable finance. I would like to thank the leadership of the member for Whitby as we continue to develop a new sustainable bond framework for government issuance using made-in-Canada sustainable investment guidelines. The second is on marine conservation. It is worth highlighting the investment of $282 million over 11 years for the creation of two new national marine conservation areas, as well as support for three more in the north. Canada has set ambitious targets of 30% conservation of its land and oceans by 2030, and this will help us get there. If I may, I would also like to quickly mention that budget 2026 supports our national parks and historic sites. I would like to mention quickly the support for the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award, which does excellent work. In passing, my friend Ryan Keeping, who ran across Canada a few years ago, and his father, Scott Keeping, from Halifax are very big fans of Terry Fox. There is also the Canada groceries and essentials benefit program, which benefits all of us across our ridings. Third, support for the Francophonie summit is also crucial. That is important to us. In closing, budget 2026 is one that will help all Canadians, that is good for nature and the environment and that helps mitigate climate change.”