Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I get the impression that we're launching into long political speeches. It's important during clause-by-clause consideration, but you'd think we were in the House of Commons.
The amendment tabled today by the NDP is important. First I'd like to divide this amendment in two as it deals with the discussions we had about reduction targets and compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, but also with medium and long term objectives.
I want to indicate to the committee that at first blush, we are in favour of the first part of amendment NDP-15.1, insofar as a bit further, namely in amendment BQ-10, we proposed similar targets. The actual debates on greenhouse emission objectives will inevitably have to be done in the framework of BQ-10. Of course we can broach the subject as we discuss NDP-15.1, given that it includes targets.
I would like to say to the government members that it is possible to achieve the Kyoto objectives. Europe has proven that it was possible to minimize the impact of the application of the Kyoto Protocol on our economies. It's a matter of implementing strong mechanisms as provided for in the protocol. I am thinking among other things of the credit exchange system and the carbon market.
Mr. Chairman, Europe has demonstrated that the Kyoto objectives could be achieved when the right instruments and the right approaches were put in place. Europe will attain its Kyoto objectives and the impact will be less than 0.1% of its GDP. That's proof that the objectives of Kyoto set for 2008-2012 can still be achieved and that we must go even further. Indeed, if one thing was clearly stated by our witnesses during the consideration of Bill C-30, it was that we cannot be satisfied with the long-term measures as proposed by the current government. That objective will be on the order of 60 to 80% by 2050.
Almost all the witnesses who appeared before this committee told us that we needed short, medium and long term objectives. We must therefore set that kind of objective. The NDP proposals, with regard to the first part of the amendment, are interesting ones and in any case they can be found a little later in amendment BQ-10.
I want to emphasize the fact that achieving Kyoto objectives and rigorous medium and long term objectives depends on the approach that Canada chooses. And that's why amendment NDP-15.1 is of some concern to me. What's been proposed here is more or less a sectorial approach, that is an approach based on industrial sectors. Yet, that has not produced significant results when it comes to attaining Kyoto objectives, simply because it does not take into account a number of parameters, among other things the energy positioning of one region compared to another. We can all agree that Quebec's energy position is not the same as that of Alberta and our industries don't necessarily use the same sources of energy. In Quebec, 90% of our electricity is produced hydraulically.
Moreover, the economic structure is not the same from coast to coast. One must acknowledge that in western Canada, the economy is based on fossil fuels. The auto industry is mainly concentrated in Ontario. The basis of the Quebec economy is the manufacturing industry. Given that the economic structure is not the same throughout Canada, we need an approach that takes that reality into account.
Moreover, demographics, gains in efficiency and the renewable energy potential are not the same everywhere.
Consequently, we cannot support an amendment which does not guarantee that the provinces which want to apply a territorial approach would not be able to do so. If these provinces give guarantees to Ottawa that they intend to respect the greenhouse gas reduction objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, this amendment, if adopted as worded, would not give them the possibility to apply their own, equivalent, plan.
Let me go back in time a bit and remind you of the debate surrounding Bill C-288. What did we say about the bill? We proposed an approach based on the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol. But let's think back to the NDP's position on Bill C-288's proposed territorial approach. Mr. Chairman, it took a lot of convincing before receiving the support of the Liberal Party of Canada, because the amendment which was proposed by the Bloc Québécois only proposed a single option, that is, the territorial approach.
Today, we are studying amendment NDP-15, and history might repeat itself. If we pass this amendment, we risk adopting a sectoral approach without receiving a guarantee from the NDP that provinces which respect, and which commit to upholding the Kyoto Protocol, will be able to take a territorial approach.
Even though my colleague, Mr. Cullen, showed more openness today than he did with regard to the proposed amendment contained in Bill C-288, and despite the fact that amendment NDP-15.1 integrates the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol and sets rigorous objectives which we will adhere to, we do not believe that the preferred approach will necessarily lead to reaching those objectives.
Thank you very much.