Thank you.
Again, that cooperative approach is far and away the better approach, instead of just mandating things and hitting from the top down provinces like Quebec, or whatever province it has to be. I think the approach our government is attempting to take in respect of the provinces and in respect of their authority is the better approach.
My province is going to benefit in a significant way from clean air, and from the climate change funding announced by Prime Minister Harper.
Under the trust fund initiative, Saskatchewan will receive something like $44 million to support provincial projects. That results in real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants in the province. So money is being spent, as opposed to not knowing exactly what the costs will be and the dollars spent in Mr. Layton's bill, Bill C-377.
Some of the activities planned in our regulatory approach include continuing development of near-zero carbon dioxide emission electrical generation projects, and implementing measures to improve energy efficiency and conservation, including promotion and support for energy reduction by homeowners, businesses, farms, and communities. All of that is very commendable.
I was quite excited to hear the chair relate to me last week the good stuff he's done with solar power just recently, and how, I think, he now puts power back into the grid in Alberta as a result of that. So in his retirement years, I guess he has a little business going there and will do very well. In a significant way he is contributing to cleaning up the environment across the country, but particularly in his own home province.
So I think that developing and utilizing renewable and alternative energy sources, as he's doing, and as I want to do with geothermal--including biofuels, solar energy technologies that some others are doing, and doing effectively as well....
The regulations would continue to encourage us to lead efforts in carbon capture, including sequestration, which we talked about here, and particularly through the international test centre for carbon dioxide capture.
So the clean air and the climate change funding for Saskatchewan is part of a national $1.5 billion initiative to protect Canadians from the consequences of climate change and air pollution. Those initiatives will ensure that we protect our environment, that we clean up our air, and that we make real progress toward reducing greenhouse gases.
I believe in this different approach, as opposed to the one in Mr. Layton's Bill C-377, which is going to punish our province very significantly and very adversely affect us. If we take the approach our Conservative government is proposing, the regulations and regulatory approach we have indicated, we will implement this plan in a way that ensures our economy can continue to grow and prosper. In fact, these measures will bring economic benefits to some sectors. For example, Saskatchewan's forestry and agricultural sectors will benefit from the reduced impact of acid rain and smog. New industries, such as those that produce energy from renewable resources like the wind and sun, will also benefit and create jobs. So there is also something in terms of the economic opportunity there.
So I think this means, not only for Saskatchewan residents but beyond them as well, that tough regulations will have real and tangible health and environmental benefits for everyone, as well as positive economic benefits.
In Saskatchewan, my home province, where I advocate from and advocate for, these benefits are invaluable. They include cleaner communities and natural spaces; healthier children; fewer emergency room visits and fewer hospital admissions and premature deaths; and also, obviously, more sustainable natural resources.
So for the first time since Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol nearly a decade ago, Canada is going to be making meaningful contributions to the global effort to control greenhouse gas emissions. But strong actions like these, as opposed to the vagueness and the ambiguity of Bill C-377, come at a cost, and those costs, while manageable, will be borne, at least in part, by individual Canadians and their families.
We must all be prepared to do our part to bear that responsibility to get the job done for the generations ahead, but we have to make a start now. So we have that important role to play, and we can take significant measurable action in our own backyard, in my province of Saskatchewan. I think the citizenry is prepared to do that.
Climate change is a global issue. It requires federal leadership. However, the burden must be shared by everyone, including provinces, territories, industry, and individual Canadians from coast to coast.
I want to refer again, in terms of the contrast that we have in Bill C-377, to some of the very practical things we're doing. I want to refer as well to some of the Hansard records that somebody just took away from me bit ago, some of the good stuff on the record there in terms of the questions, in a few places, to Mr. Hogg, questions raised by Mr. Bigras and Mr. Godfrey, who is not here today, who had raised some issues. Maybe, in fact, I'll turn back to that in a moment as well.
Again, when you look at the suspect constitutionality of the bill before us and then you move on to something substantive, solid, and practical, as recent as yesterday in terms of some of the effect that we have here.... I just refer to a couple of places here.
Mr. Hogg was pretty plain. I think he was pretty clear in terms of the comments he made. Mr. Bigras had some good questions.