Environment committee  I'll just add a question to that. In the government's recent climate change plans, how heavily involved was the insurance industry in guiding some of the principles set out in that plan?

Environment committee  There's something quite a bit more. Is there not some effort to re-establish Canada's battered image with respect to climate change?

Environment committee  I know you have the same arguments for Quebec. We haven't received one single bit of credit for this since the climate change discussions started, so I don't believe we'll get any credit, and I don't believe we'll have anything to sell. We'll just end up with higher numbers, and in fact that is exactly what happened.

Environment committee  We could conduct an economic analysis of the effects of achieving the Kyoto Protocol objectives, but I think we should also do an evaluation of the costs associated with not complying with the Kyoto Protocol. I think the British study released last week, which puts the cost of climate change at $7 billion, must be weighed as well. When we talk about a nearly 20 percent reduction of global GDP, I think these are also economic analyses that have to be taken into consideration when public administrations are required to make decisions.

Environment committee  The point is, though, that there is an urgency to act, and to act quickly, unless you're willing to accept the consequences of longer-term, built-in climate change going on for centuries. That may be a decision that society would want to take, but that's not for me to say. All I can say is that the science tells us that if we continue on the path we're on, there will be certain consequences.

Environment committee  I have a very quick last question. I didn't hear anything about climate change and greenhouse gases. It seems to me there's a consensus that global warming is having short, medium and long-term impacts. Mr. Freeman may have something to say about this. Surely global warming is affecting children and their health and has medium and long-term effects on populations.

Environment committee  With climate change, not specifically, but if you take a look at air health effects, particularly in vulnerable populations, there is evidence to suggest that smog, in particular, does have an impact on seniors as a vulnerable population--so not children, but a different vulnerable population.

Environment committee  Thanks to its scientific research chairs program, Canada funds almost 70 chairs that are researching climate change. Have there been any results achieved from all of the money we are investing? Is anything on the way?

Environment committee  I don't know what the number is now. What you get out depends on what you put in, in terms of the actual model of climate change. It is a very complex subject.

Environment committee  What I'm now seeing is next week being as I've described, the first meeting on Tuesday being on both the scientific and economic impacts of climate change if we don't do anything. The impacts of action will potentially come on Thursday, and we have lots of people who will talk about that. We then have a week-long break, at which point I think it would be most timely—and maybe we can even get the minister in for this—for the first session after we return to be an update on the Kyoto process, because it will be concluded at that point.

Environment committee  I had a little difficulty following some of his suggestions, but if we were to start with what he is proposing for meetings for next week, the 7th and the 9th, is he wanting to stay with the theme of urgency and have the first meeting on impacts of climate change: scientific, social, economic? Is that what he's proposing?

Environment committee  On this side, given how this file is evolving and just to remind ourselves of why we're doing this, what it's about--climate change, global warming--I think we as a group would very much insist that we have a session on impacts. Once we get beyond that, the only other question is whether in fact on the impact side it may be possible to take some of the....

Environment committee  We continued on with our review of the Kyoto Protocol. We of course brought in aspects of what was happening with the government's climate change plan. That came in. It informed the work we did as a committee. We had no problem with doing that at the time, and we still produced a report--one that we're going to be bringing back, interestingly enough, in the discussion on Bill C-288--so I don't think that parties agreeing to put a special legislative committee to discuss the Clean Air Act can't somehow inform what we're doing.

Environment committee  I think it's like Mr. Mokhtar has said. We had a number of programs in, let's say, climate change and other areas that were sunsetting, for which they were to get further priority established this fiscal year under the previous government. The current government is looking at setting priorities, so we'll see what will happen in terms of funding.

Environment committee  Yes. I just find it odd that on an issue like EnerGuide, which attacks the problem of climate change, the environment department doesn't have very much of a say. I find that odd. Thank you.