Thank you.
I'd like to make clear, at the beginning, that there is very clear and abundant evidence, underpinned by a strong scientific consensus, that greenhouse gases meet all three criteria for toxic substances as defined by CEPA. The professional climate science community--and that is to say, the people who publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals--is virtually unanimous that greenhouse gases from human activities are now a dominant cause of the very rapid global warming observed in the past half century, and that these emissions will cause far greater warming over the course of this century unless dramatic reductions are achieved in emissions.
Since 1988, governments have mandated the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, to review and assess the wealth of scientific research on this subject. The IPCC's conclusions have been endorsed by all the leading national science academies.
Paragraph 64(a) of CEPA establishes a criterion of immediate or long-term harmful effect on the environment or its biodiversity. Specifically on the point of biodiversity, it's widely understood that the climate change that is under way is so rapid that many species simply won't be able to adapt or move in time to survive. A paper was published in the journal Nature in 2004 that stated: “we predict, on the basis of mid-range climate-warming scenarios for 2050, that 15–37% of species in our sample of regions and taxa will be 'committed to extinction'.”
Paragraph 64(b) of the act establishes the criterion of danger to the environment on which life depends. On this point, it's projected that by the 2080s, with only two degrees Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels, tens of millions of additional people worldwide would be at risk from coastal flooding and from hunger, hundreds of millions of additional people would be at risk from malaria, and three billion additional people would be at risk from water shortage.
Paragraph 64(c) of the act establishes the criterion of danger in Canada to human life or health. On this point, it's expected that rapid warming will harm life and health in Canada in a number of ways. I would mention heat stress affecting particularly the young, frail, and elderly during heat waves. We saw an example of this in southern Europe a couple of years ago; warming induced increases in the frequency of smog events and the spread of vector-borne diseases.
In summary, it's very clear, from many years of accumulation of scientific study, that greenhouse gases do meet all three criteria for toxic substances as defined by CEPA.