Speech

Good morning. Thank you all for coming.

Over the past few years, the Harper Government has been implementing a comprehensive plan for the environment, a plan that strikes the right balance.

This plan includes a strategic, sector-by-sector regulatory approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- aimed at those areas that will have the biggest impact on improving the environment.

And the transportation sector -- which accounts for about one quarter of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions -- is one such area.

We have already taken significant steps to reduce emissions from passenger vehicles and light trucks.

And today I am pleased to announce the latest step that we are taking to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

I am proud to announce the final regulations that will decrease significantly greenhouse gas emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles and engines, while we continue to align our greenhouse gas regulations with the United States.

They will address new vehicles such as full-size pick-ups, semi-trucks, buses and garbage trucks, beginning with the 2014 model year.

All Canadian manufacturers and importers of heavy duty vehicles and engines will be required to equip an increasingly larger portion of their fleet with greenhouse gas reducing technologies necessary for compliance. And they will be able to choose from a number of cost effective off-the-shelf technologies.

With these tough new regulations in place, greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 model year heavy duty vehicles will be reduced by up to 23 percent compared to vehicles manufactured prior to the regulatory period, and will result in greenhouse gas reductions of 19.1 megatonnes over the lifetime of 2014-2018 model-year vehicles.

These technologies will, in turn, provide operators with significant fuel savings while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

In fact, these measures that we are announcing today will result in fuel saving of up to $8000 per vehicle, per year by 2018. That's good news for drivers across Canada.

And there is more. Manufacturers and suppliers of greenhouse gas emission reducing technologies will see new opportunities including more fuel-efficient engines and aerodynamic cab designs required to comply with the regulations.

These regulations, which we intend to publish in the Canada Gazette in March, are another example of the success we are having working collaboratively with our partners in the United States to harmonize standards and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Given the integrated nature of the North American automotive industry, this approach just makes sense and is vital to protecting the competitiveness of Canada's vehicle manufacturers.

More broadly, today's announcement builds on the sector-by-sector approach I mentioned a moment ago.

Last year, for example, we published proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light-duty vehicles for 2017-2025 model years and new ships. As a result of our action on light-duty vehicles to date, we will see vehicles rolling off the line in 2025 that will produce almost 50 per cent fewer emissions and consume up to 50 per cent less fuel than 2008 models.

We addressed greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electricity generation -- making Canada the first country in the world to ban construction of traditional technology coal plants.

Our announcement today is one more way the Government of Canada is acting on its commitment to meeting its Copenhagen target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2020.

It is another way that we are successfully implementing our sector-by-sector approach. Indeed, it is estimated that we are already halfway there in our national effort to meet Canada's Copenhagen target.

Our approach is working and our progress is encouraging. And it doesn't stop here. These actions that we are taking are laying a foundation that will protect Canada's environment for generations to come.

Thank you!