Thank you. It was a curiosity question.
I'm now going to focus on the direction Canada is heading in addressing climate change.
We began the clean energy dialogue after the administrative changes in the United States with the Obama administration. We've been working aggressively toward a new international agreement to deal with climate change and focusing on Copenhagen. Canada has consistently used the target of a 20% reduction by 2020. We've also said that it is important for all the major emitters to be part of the solution, part of the new agreement. The focus is on making sure that China, the United States, and India--all the major emitters--are part of this new agreement. The United States is committing. There are ongoing negotiations as we prepare for Copenhagen.
My question is on the importance of a North American approach. You've said there will be a new global economy, but as Canada enters the negotiations, to protect the Canadian economy, which is interlinked with the American economy, would it be better for us to take a North American approach, as opposed to adopting a stand-alone approach and accepting European targets?
We had some scientists at our last meeting, including Mr. John Drexhage. I shared with the witnesses that I had just come back from Copenhagen, where we saw $2.50-a-litre gasoline, a tax of 180% on a new vehicle, and electricity prices six times what they were in Canada. The question to Mr. Drexhage was whether this was the direction we should be going and whether we should be accepting that type of lifestyle. His answer to the question asking basically if we have to become another Denmark and Sweden was, “I think to a large degree yes, we do”.
What would that do to our Canadian economy? What would it do to industry if we stood alone, away from the U.S., and accepted Denmark and Sweden targets, with massive increases in taxation? Would that disadvantage Canadian industry? Canadian forestry products are not stand-alone. If the economy is healthy, your industry is healthy. What would it do to the economy in Canada if we broke away from negotiations with the U.S.?