Mr. Chairman, I would not want the minister to mislead the people. The opposition has never stated that it wanted the government to buy hot air.
On our side, we have never said that we should be sending the money provided by taxation and the taxes paid by our citizens to other countries. However, could you implement regulations based upon absolute reductions and establish a system that would allow Canadian businesses to take advantage of foreign markets? By establishing intensity targets, not only are you granting a considerable advantage to the large oil companies, but you are also compromising an important mechanism that would allow Canadian businesses to take advantage of foreign markets while at the same time helping Canada move in the direction of its Kyoto targets.
We are not asking you to buy hot air. We are not asking you to use taxpayers' money. We are simply asking you to put in place a system that would allow companies to benefit from this.