Environment Committee on Oct. 20th, 2009

[Prof. John Stone]

Let me come to that now. From the way things are going, I think it is now inevitable that there will be a price on carbon, and there will be a North American market. I say that because we already see states and some Canadian provinces entering into carbon markets. It is the experience in the U.S. that their federal legislation is very often based on experiments that are carried out at the state level. I think it's inevitable that we will see a price on carbon in North America.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you.

There was a question earlier about whether Bill C-311 would make a difference to our negotiating position in Copenhagen. I'd like to ask the witnesses whether they think that arriving at a harmonized North American approach to greenhouse gases might also strengthen our position in Copenhagen.

Perhaps Dr. Fortier could respond to that.

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

Yes, I think it would obviously help if we came as a North American bloc to the discussions in Copenhagen. Personally, I'm very encouraged by the recent developments with the President of the United States taking steps to actually reduce emissions. I think that to achieve this reduction in emissions we need a mobilization similar to what we had for the Second World War. Those who mobilized the world in 1939 were the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This is what we're seeing at this time. Mr. Brown and Mr. Obama are really trying to move the agenda forward. I think if we came with our position aligned with that of the United States, it would be excellent for Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you. Time has expired.

We have some business at hand that we need to deal with quickly.

I want to thank all the witnesses for your testimony today, and for your discussion in our debate. It was really appreciated. It will help us with our study on Bill C-311.

You are now dismissed.

The committee does have a couple of orders of business.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I have a meeting at one o'clock, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Okay. This will be very quick.

We have to approve an operational budget for the study of this bill. There is a motion drafted that the committee approve the operational budget for the amount of $39,650 for the study of Bill C-311, An Act to ensure Canada assumes its responsibility in preventing dangerous climate change.

Can I have someone move that?

Thank you, Mr. Warawa.

(Motion agreed to)

We circulated the proposed schedule that we have so far for the witnesses who have confirmed. It is there for your information. We'll take a look at this again, depending on the outcome of the vote tomorrow night.

Is there any other business?

Go ahead, Mr. Trudeau.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

We've spoken about this a number of times, but I'm moving a motion--we can discuss it on Thursday morning--that the meetings in relation to Bill C-311 be televised.

I will be depositing this with the clerk. Unless we get unanimous consent now, we can discuss it on Thursday morning.

That's just a notice of motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

It's a notice of motion for Thursday.

Okay. It's tabled.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

Mr. Woodworth so moves.

We're out of here.