Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses. First of all, I want to reassure them: not all is doom and gloom north of their border, since this afternoon, the House of Commons will vote on a motion asking the government to defend, in light of the Copenhagen Conference, the principles of 2 degrees Celsius and reducing GHG by 25% of the 1990 level, and to provide assistance to developing countries.
I want to thank you for having given us a legislative portrait of the United States. You reminded us that three bills are currently being studied by the House of Representatives or the Senate. I would, however, like to draw your attention to two bills. One includes an import tariff for countries that would fail to meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I think that the Waxman-Markey bill, which passed last June, sets out a tax that could come into force as of 2020. Furthermore, the second bill that was being studied in the Senate establishes a CO2 import tax in 2012. Is this approach being considered in the United States? Is it serious? Is this a tool that the Americans could use to convince their partners to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions?