Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First, I think that today's panel is probably one of those with the biggest experts in the field of emissions trading systems. I think that's entirely to the committee's credit.
Mr. Delbeke, of the European Commission, will be pleased because I'm going to cite a paragraph from a 2005 Commission document entitled “EU's Actions in Fighting Climate Change”, which reads as follows, on page 6:
The system should enable the EU to meet Kyoto targets at an annual cost of between 2.9 billion and 3.7 billion euros, which represents less than 0.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). To meet similar targets without such a system, it would have to spend 6.8 billion euros a year.
Mr. Marcu, isn't this estimate by the European Union proof that the emissions trading system is a powerful instrument for fighting climate change? Doesn't it overturn all the disastrous scenarios, including those put forward by the government in the past few months and years, according to which the Canadian economy might risk collapse?