Evidence of meeting #9 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was countries.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:40 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
We and our sponsors, who we had to go and recruit.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Did you receive any support from the Government of Canada at all?
4:40 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
We wish, but no.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Did you have any chance to meet with the minister or his officials pre-Bali so they could consult you and get a sense of your position, which reflects the views, obviously, of an awful lot of Canadian youth?
4:40 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
In the meetings you cite in this handout, you talk about the minister yelling publicly. You talk about the minister walking out of a formal briefing on his own “Turning the Corner” plan. What happened here? What was going on here with this minister?
4:40 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
We never had an opportunity to speak with the minister, so it's very hard for me to speak on his behalf. We were present at the event, which was labelled as a presentation on the “Turning the Corne” plan, and we eagerly awaited him speaking. He was seen at the event and he left early, and it was announced at the very end of the event that he would not be presenting the “Turning the Corne” plan. So that was never discussed at the event. Only presentations from business were made.
I don't know why. It was just said very vaguely that something had come up, and that's the only justification the audience was ever given.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
So what you're saying is that he didn't even show up to present the plan.
4:45 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
No, and he never met with us either, and that's not for lack of our trying very hard.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
You're telling Canadians that this was a formal meeting, convened by the minister, to present to, you say, over 100 international participants, with media there, Canada's showcase “Turning the Corner” plan, and you're telling the Canadian people that he didn't show up to present it.
4:45 p.m.
Member, Outreach Working Group, Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali
That's exactly right.
This was an event that was supposed to explain the “Turning the Corner” plan. This was a UN side event, so there was an international audience. There were Canadians there. There were people from all over the world who had shown up, because they were very curious to hear about this plan, which had become notorious because it was a justification for this government not accepting this or that because they had their own plan. And they were going to explain this plan.
But the minister never showed up to explain this plan at this event, and we were not given an explanation as to why. So this was an embarrassment to Canada. I remember one Australian coming up to me after the event, and he said, “I'm not even Canadian, and I find this embarrassing”.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Yes.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Was your observation similar? What do you have to say about that event?
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
That event? I was there for about a minute. I was told that there was nothing going on, so I left. I can't speak to it, no.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
What was your understanding of what the event was supposed to be?
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
As was characterized, it was a side event where they were going to talk about Canada's plan.
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
There didn't seem to be much of anything happening.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Yes, that's what I was told. That was my understanding. I had more important things to do.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Fine.
Now, speaking of more important things to do, there's been a story about the minister leaving an important meeting for other things that weren't more important, but we heard the deputy today tell us that it didn't happen, and so forth. Do you have any knowledge of that? Do you have any comment on that?
4:45 p.m.
Director, Climate Change and Energy, International Institute for Sustainable Development
I'm not going to be reporting on second-hand knowledge. I have no direct knowledge of anything. All I would ever receive is second-hand knowledge.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
My understanding of the IPCC is that you have a situation where scientists come together, but there are also government officials who gather at these meetings, and you get a fairly conservative view of what's happening and what the scientists have observed--something everyone can agree to and that their governments will approve, essentially. That's what seems to come out from these IPCC meetings.
The worry I have is that things are happening faster than we think. Last Thursday evening there was a report on CBC television news about scientists who had done studies on coral in the Caribbean and found that during the year 2005, the hottest year on record, half the coral died in the Caribbean. I haven't seen anything else on that since, which surprises me. I thought the next day I'd see it in the papers and so forth, and I haven't. I'm anxious to hear more about this. I'm going to have to call the scientists at Dalhousie University in Halifax. I should have done that by now; I have to do that.
In view of all this, are we way behind? Is Canada leading the retreat?
