Minister, I understand that you intend to go to all international fora in order to remind everyone that Canada wants to tackle climate change. With all due respect to our Chair, I would suggest that it would have been better for you to attend the G-8 meeting instead of asking the chairman of our committee to go. If ministers of all other countries attended this meeting, you should have been there. I think your absence was unacceptable.
At the end of your presentation, you mentioned national programs to be implemented in Canada. The environment commissioner clearly stated, on page 27 of chapter 1 of her report on climate change, that the benefits of emission trading have been demonstrated.
As recently as yesterday, the chairman of the Montreal Climate Exchange said he was encouraged by your statements suggesting that you may want to create an emission trading exchange in Canada. Can you confirm this intention to the committee today? I am not asking you to talk about [Editor's note: inaudible] or the purchase of international credits. I want to know if the government really intends to create this exchange.