First of all, Mr. Bigras, and also Mr. Scarpaleggia, thank you for supporting this bill the last time around. That's appreciated, and I'm glad you did that at the time. You must have at that time believed that the targets were appropriate, because they're the same targets as before.
There are several reasons why here. One of them is that the United Kingdom, the European Union, California, the New England states, and some of our western provinces have all agreed that these are appropriate targets, so we're not pulling them out of thin air. They're also the ones put forward by scientists. I am a scientist myself. I'm not climate change scientist, but I'm a forest scientist, and I believe I recognize good science when I see it.
We will never have a perfect answer. Science cannot give us a perfect number. There will never be a perfect number on this. There will be people who think it's too low, and there will be people who think it's too high. There will be people who think it's too fast and people who think it's too slow. But 2,500 scientists from around the world working for the United Nations have repeatedly affirmed and reaffirmed these targets as the minimum, not the optimum, of what needs to be done.
Does it make me a little nervous that we're going for the minimum, and not the optimum or the maximum, in taking the principle of due diligence here? It does make me a little nervous. As was pointed out by Mr. Scarpaleggia, I'm new here. I leave the expertise, and the politics, and the committees, and the procedures of the House to those of you who have far more experience. But it certainly is very clear to 99% of the scientists in the world that these numbers are on the low side of what's required.