Finance committee  That's a good question. I think I mostly understood it; I didn't have a translation device. There are a couple of things I would say. One is that we give incentives to businesses to take on new technology all the time. The accelerated capital cost allowance, for example, is an incentive to businesses.

Finance committee  May I say something very quickly?

Finance committee  It's probably different. I won't anticipate your question. I agree with Brian. We should look at what we tax, too. One of the things to keep in mind is that if you look at the rest of the OECD, Canada ranks second last in terms of taxing pollution and waste. Most other OECD countries have begun to move their tax system and diversify what they tax.

Finance committee  That's a good question. The world is going to transition towards fossil-fuel-free vehicles. The question for us is, do we move ourselves among the leaders of that pack or are we late adopters? There's probably a basket of things you could do to encourage that transition. Having vehicle fuel efficiency standards is part of it.

Finance committee  The good unintended consequences are that we'll have cleaner vehicles, fewer kids with asthma and fewer people going to hospital from dirty air, and we'll be reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Those are all good consequences. The thing you need to worry about is having enough market demand that you're moving with big players.

Finance committee  In one minute or less?

Finance committee  Sure. Basically, it's a transformation of the economy similar to the Industrial Revolution—in one minute or less. I'm being glib, but the Industrial Revolution in many ways was built on unlocking fossil fuels. It wasn't the only thing, but it was a big part of it. We're now going through a new industrial revolution that will be built on transitioning to a different set of fuels.

Finance committee  Sure. That's two questions. In terms of the economic transition, I would just say that the world is moving to a cleaner, more innovative economy whether Canada likes it or not. Our choice is whether we go with the leading peloton or fall behind. I think that in 20 years.... Much like the transition to free trade 30 years ago, falling behind is a bad long-term decision.

Finance committee  I have a few slides that I will pass around in case anyone wants to see them. There are some pretty slides. I apologize; they're only in English. I'm going to speak in English today. I am a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa and also a member of the federal government's economic strategy table for the resource sectors.

Environment committee  That's a great question. The law list meant that you used to do thousands and thousands of screenings each year. Those screening-level projects, other than in federal lands, have been largely eliminated. In my view, if the trade-off for not doing all those screenings is that you actually do a number of good-quality regional assessments, I think it will be a better outcome environmentally and economically.

Environment committee  I agree with everything he just said, strategically. I think this is the most important part of the act. We thought about the options, and I don't think you can legislate that they must do a certain number, because then you just get back-of-the-envelope ones to meet the number. It's hard to do criteria and the reason is that, as you know Ms.

Environment committee  You used the word “appeal” and I know you were using it colloquially. I certainly wouldn't give an open-ended right of appeal, so that you could simply get a court of second opinion any time you wanted it. It should be narrowed to substantial and serious errors, obviously. I think you probably feel the same way.

Environment committee  The first goal, obviously, is to do hearings right in a way that you don't need an appeal or a lawsuit about them. Let's try and make that the main goal. Inevitably, some of these things do end up being taken to court. I guess my experience, having seen jurisdictions where these issues either go to court or go to a specialized review tribunal, is you get better outcomes from a specialized review tribunal.

Environment committee  I'll try to answer the questions as quickly as you asked them. I'm not a deep expert in the public participation part of EA. I won't say that much on it. I would say this though. The early planning stage is vital. By providing that clarity, scoping, and direction for an EA, you actually solve a lot of problems later.

Environment committee  Thanks. I'm Stewart Elgie. I'm here wearing two hats today. One, I'm a Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Ottawa. I've taught environmental assessment law for over 20 years. I was involved in the committee process that created the original CEAA in 1992-94, along with Ms.