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Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.

I want to give everybody the opportunity to chime in here. I know that some of the answers were cut off due to a lack of time. If anybody wants to add anything else, we're talking about a very interesting topic here, and I just wanted to give the witnesses an opportunity to add to their answers.

Go ahead, Mr. Breton.

Thank you for that, Mr. Breton.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for being with us today.

I've heard from many of my constituents who are interested in ZEVs, zero-emission vehicles. With the government investing in charging infrastructure, it's making the switch to zero-emission vehicles a little more streamlined. This may have been touched upon; however, I'll go back to it just in case.

Back in 2019, $700 million was provided for many federal measures to encourage the uptake and adoption of ZEVs. This funding was supposed to last three years. How long did it take for Canadians to use up this funding, and is there funding in the estimates for the ZEV program?

Thank you for that information.

We all know that transportation accounts for a large portion of our emissions. This program, as you said, is very popular. A lot of the funding was used up and $287 million is allocated to it now. What is the potential for programs like these and the transportation sector as a whole to contribute to Canada's overall GHG reduction targets? I know it's very important as well for my kids and for future generations.

Thank you for that. I'm happy to hear that many initiatives are under way. We heard our infrastructure minister talk about the need for lowering emissions in our transit system. I'm happy to see the announcement from our government for the billions of dollars to help cities and transit authorities switch over to electric vehicles. That's a very positive sign. I know there was very good feedback.

Ms. Marisetti, is there anything else you want to add in terms of the ZEV program? I have about 30 seconds left.

Mr. Chair, I do agree with some of my colleagues here on the timeline, with the sensitivity around this. We do know that the government is working hard and diligently toward an agreement. I've spoken to many of my constituents as well. Part of the agreement...the refund for passengers is part of that.

With the Easter long weekend coming up, we're not going anywhere, but I think the department also deserves to be respected, and we need to be considerate of that as well for the department.

Those are some of my thoughts, but I would also like to hear what our Conservative friends or our friends from the NDP think of this. It would be nice if they were to weigh in as well.

I was just going to add here that many companies share information with the government and they consider it to be confidential. I just want to throw that out there.

I also think we could be discussing rail safety here. It's very important to many of the members here, but here we are discussing another subject.

Definitely my colleagues make a great point. I think the timeline of 30 days would be helpful to many in the department. We do know, as my colleague was saying, that we're into our third wave. I think here in Ontario there were over 2,000 cases today, which is a record, so it's not simply going into the office to print a few documents. There are certain restrictions we all have to abide by, so I think it's important that we give proper timing to the department to prepare the documents. Probably some of them have to go through translation on top of that. That would involve more folks in this. I think the 30 days would be very helpful.

I'm happy that my colleague agrees that's a good condition to go on. I think there are many other things in terms of the documents that need to be discussed as well.

Point of order, Mr. Chair. I'm getting the translation at the same sound as Mr. Cory.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, thank you to our witnesses, Mr. Cory and Mr. Casola, for taking the time to be with us here today.

Several witnesses have touched on the Canada Infrastructure Bank's potential to create a market for much-needed investments in infrastructure that will play a crucial role in helping to combat climate change and make our country greener.

Our new initiative, which is very exciting, is committing $1.5 billion in the next few years to fund zero-emission buses and their charging infrastructure, which I know residents of Brampton would love. This new commitment was very well received here in Brampton. Transit investments are always welcome in Brampton, such as the federal government's $45-million investment into Brampton Transit, which is the largest federal investment for Brampton Transit in over 10 years.

Mr. Cory, do you think this kind of acceleration in the rollout of zero-emission buses would be happening without the CIB's involvement?

Thank you for that, Mr. Cory.

We're all excited to hear about electric buses and the announcements that are coming up.

Mr. Chair, can I split my time with Mr. Fillmore?

Thank you for that, Mr. Fillmore.

I'm glad you mentioned Brampton. Mayor Patrick Brown is very excited about this program as well, so I wanted to throw a plug in there for that. It's really exciting.

I only have 10 seconds left, so I won't be able to ask my next question, as it's very in-depth, but thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Transparency is always important, but I know—I just did a simple Google search—that much of this is online. The bank files annual reports; it's all public information. Public tax dollars are being used, so I think transparency is key, but it's on the Internet.

I don't know what's behind this, but I think we have many more studies of interest to so many members across Canada that would be a more beneficial use of our time. I wanted, though, to put this forward, that a lot of this information is online.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Minister, for being with us here today.

I'll get right to it. Minister, last year you announced a $750-million emissions reduction fund, with the goal of reducing our GHG emissions and putting our energy sector workers back to work. You know it's a great announcement when both Elizabeth May and Jason Kenney congratulate you for it.

Can you update the committee on the work you've done since you announced it and where the $569 million in the main estimates will be invested this coming fiscal year?

Thank you for that, Minister.

Minister, here's my last question for you. Our friends in the Conservative Party had a policy convention this past weekend, at which their party membership voted against saying that climate change is real. They voted against saying that the Conservative Party is willing to act on climate change.

Minister, you know, I know and Canadians know that this is wrong. For the benefit of our Conservative friends, though, why are they wrong and what is your department doing to address climate change?