Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is going to be regarding parks and what is happening in parks, because the minister is responsible for Environment and Parks Canada. But before I ask the question specifically on parks, I want to share with the committee the following.
I also just came back from Washington, D.C. I was with GLOBE International. They shared the importance of harmonizing standards. There are so many different standards internationally that it will be impossible to achieve a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without harmonizing standards. That's exactly what we're seeing happen with the clean energy dialogue ongoing with the United States and also the announcements that we've heard even yesterday and this morning from the minister elaborating on the commitment to harmonize our standards for vehicle efficiency.
Mr. Chair, they also shared the importance of the smart electricity grid. They went on and talked about transformative technologies like carbon capture and storage, renewable fuel standards, including cellulosic ethanol, energy efficiencies and nuclear, and on and on. I was so proud to represent Canada, because that is exactly the direction we're going in, and they were very optimistic. Even China was at the table when Mr. Ouellet was in Berlin with me.
So this is now two years later. We met in Washington, D.C. with GLOBE International. Unfortunately, the tiddlywink bill is going in a totally different direction and is out of date. Internationally, we're moving together, harmonizing standards and coming up with very stringent targets, which include the major emitters. Of course, the tiddlywink bill does not include China and major emitters.
My question is regarding parks. Of course, when we became the government, within weeks we, along with the Province of British Columbia, announced our commitment to the Great Bear Rainforest and the Nahanni National Park Reserve. We have made a strong commitment to parks right across the country. Also, in Quebec there has been a lot of work in parks.
Mr. Shugart, or maybe Alan, could you share with us what is happening in the budget specifically regarding commitments to parks?