Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) Committee on Feb. 26th, 2007

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a very simple question to start. If you found out that it took ten people and $50 to deliver a $100 cheque, would you be upset if it was your money?

[Gord Steeves]

I'd probably have some questions, at the very least.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Good. Now you know why we cut those programs that weren't working and weren't effective for Canadians.

My first question is for Mr. Ribaux. You are a founder of your organization with Mr. Laure Waridel Is that correct?

[Sidney Ribaux]

Mrs. Laure Waridel, yes.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I apologize.

In fact the group started in 1993?

[Sidney Ribaux]

Yes.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

And the year before, you went to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro?

[Sidney Ribaux]

I didn't go myself, but other members of our group did.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Your organization is pro-Kyoto and it has actually organized marches for Kyoto. Is that correct?

[Sidney Ribaux]

Yes.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

How many marches have you organized?

[Sidney Ribaux]

I couldn't say; I haven't counted them.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Many though.

[Sidney Ribaux]

We haven't organized that many ourselves, but I would say we've participated in many.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

In fact your group has the view that the issue of poverty should become part of climate change and that the Kyoto tool is good because it actually transfers wealth from north to south. I have your web page here.

[Sidney Ribaux]

Is that a question?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Yes. Your group says the issue is poverty and that you should use the environment and a transfer of wealth system from the rich countries to the poor countries...use climate change--

[Sidney Ribaux]

That general principle is something we support.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

To the FCM, I was reading with interest that you're reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You say that close to 55% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions can be influenced by decisions made by municipal governments:

Municipalities can reduce greenhouse gas emissions through land use, energy and transportation planning; infrastructure design; green procurement; building retrofits; water conservation; solid waste diversion; and the use of distributed energy systems.

It sounds like you wrote the Clean Air Act. Excellent.

My interest is in the transportation, planning, infrastructure design, and in fact building retrofits.

We had someone here, who was mentioned previously by the Bloc, Claude Villeneuve. He talked about green spaces and the effect that infrastructure and transportation have on the environment.

Indeed, your strategies and policy on clean air talk about infrastructure and transportation initiatives and strong legislation directed at smog-causing pollutants. Of course Kyoto has nothing to do with that. It talks strictly about greenhouse gases. But the Clean Air Act is doing that.

In general, the FCM is coming out very positively about some of the things we're doing--for example, the transportation infrastructure and going beyond greenhouse gases in dealing with air quality problems inside and outside the home. Is that fair?

[Gord Steeves]

Generally speaking, as an organization we have worked very strongly with the federal government over the last years in terms of many programs that have been implemented. The programs that began with the last government are going to continue with the current government. We see them as extremely positive. I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds by saying that I think we have a pretty positive relationship with the current federal government.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Indeed I've met with many groups who are nothing short of ecstatic about the $16.5 billion over the next four years. In fact they seem to know more about the next budget than I do, and they are looking forward to even more money.

Mary Jane Middelkoop, as the senior policy analyst you've actually said there's a need to make adjustments to our infrastructure. In fact I found that's one of your main policy-driven comments. Could you expand on that?

[Mary Jane Middelkoop]

I'm not sure what you mean by adjustments to infrastructure, but when you look at the challenge of transportation with respect to public transit, as discussed earlier, we're looking at a range of measures. We're including things that increase ridership. We're including things that expand the capacity of a public transit system to absorb more riders. We talk about changes to the urban forum.

I don't think we can talk about public transit or measures to increase ridership without talking about the urban forum. We would suggest that we need to look at ways of encouraging more compact forms of urban design.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

In fact what we've come out with, as a government, on infrastructure and transportation goes along very well with your policy on air and greenhouse gas emissions. Is that fair to say?

[Mary Jane Middelkoop]

There are some elements that are closely matched.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you very much.

Those are all my questions.