Environment committee  I want to ask my colleague, Cynthia Wright, to expand on this. First, obligations regarding nanotechnologies and biotechnologies have not been specifically identified, but the department's approach is to develop tests to ensure that any product resulting from such technologies—be it traditional chemistry or new technologies—does not wind up in the environment.

Environment committee  Absolutely. I would cite, for example, the International Panel on Climate Change. A number of our scientists in the department bring to bear the expertise and resources they have in being part of the International Panel on Climate Change. We co-chair one of the working groups; Dr.

Environment committee  Thank you, Chair. I would say, in terms of our approach on Turning the Corner, that we continue to develop the regulations in the context of these changes. So we have, from the point of view of our work plan in the department, not abandoned the regulatory development. As the minister indicated, we are taking account of these circumstances and working through the adjustment of the plan to those circumstances.

Environment committee  The government's objective remains the 2020 goal, and indeed, that is the position it is taking in the international discussions. The pathway to that goal is going to be affected in flux because of these circumstances. But I would say that in the answer to the specific question about tabling advice and analysis, we would have to take into account the extent to which that is advice to cabinet, and I would be limited by those constraints.

Environment committee  What we referred to in the Turning the Corner plan was an anticipated price of carbon of $65 a tonne by, I think, 2018. The complexity of this, as I understand it, is that the price of carbon under almost any plan that is a pathway to medium- and long-term targets is in any given year not going to be the same.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a son studying at Trent--

Environment committee  --so I'm interested in your question. I'll answer broadly. We have with us today our assistant deputy minister of science and technology, in case the members want to pursue this. Our science takes a number of forms. We have a number of laboratory facilities where very substantial work is performed--broadly, in areas of toxicology and understanding the nature of pollutants and toxic elements in the terrestrial and water and air environments.

Environment committee  It's difficult to answer precisely, Mr. Chairman, because each of these sites is different, and the cost, which is typically driven by the complexity of the particular contaminated site, is so variable that it's hard to know. I'd be happy to provide in written form for the committee what we can provide, what we know now.

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Chairman. I'd be happy to address that area. In 2005 the base, if I might put it that way, for federal commitment to cleaning up contaminated sites was established at $3.5 billion. The most recent budget provided funding in the range of $245 million over the next two years to accelerate the expenditure on cleanup of individual contaminated sites.

Environment committee  I think this is in some ways going right to the heart of the issue of the convergence of energy and environmental standards. We are short of developing the technology to the point where it can be deployed on a commercial basis. But as with all major technologies that offer the prospect of a step change, we are past the proof-of-concept stage as well.

Environment committee  That is the big challenge. I think, as usually happens, that it comes from a combination of public investment, which is occurring by the federal and Alberta and Saskatchewan governments, and what I might call the engagement of the market through market mechanisms to make it either necessary or advantageous to deploy the technology.

Environment committee  Mr. Chairman, Mr. Trudeau is right that from the point of view of main estimates projections, that is the profile. This is explained virtually entirely on the basis that we in government typically have a number of programs whose funding is booked for a five-year profile. At one point, it runs out.

Environment committee  I think this, for Canada, is one of the major applications for CCS, and it is of course a hugely expensive undertaking. The committee will know that the standards over time, that would be brought in through regulation on the industrial sector, in the out years begin to anticipate that carbon capture and storage will become a technology that will be deployed and will be relied on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from that sector.

Environment committee  Very much so, and indeed not the Americans only, I would suggest. There is work going on in other jurisdictions in the world, in the European Union, and I would anticipate increasingly there will be partnerships with some of the major emerging economies that face the same challenges as we do.

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, in principle, I am including all buildings in the commercial, institutional and residential sectors. If I am mistaken, I am open to correction. There is in fact a national code. It is a technical code that was developed in partnership with the provinces. I alluded to the federal authority to enforce this national code with regard to municipal blueprints and properties.