Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Minister.
This morning, you distributed your speaking notes to the committee. However, my questions are not on the portions of the notes you read, but rather on the paragraphs you skipped and did not read, for example those near the top of page 10 of the English version, where you indicate that Canada has a variety of natural resources, including oil and natural gas. In your notes, you state that this could be, and I quote: "[...] an obvious way for many border states to reduce their reliance on coal-fired plants."
In an interview you granted the Ottawa Citizen on February 5, 2009, you said that the energy impact of tar sands would have to be assessed, as well as their repercussions on the environment, but that the major share of greenhouse gas emissions in North America were currently generated by coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
If I remember, on February 14, 2002, in response to a U.S. proposal on climate change, your predecessor, David Anderson, said, and I quote:
We can help the U.S. achieve its targets by developing clean energy in Canada, but there must be continued recognition that Canada wants energy credits, credits for exporting clean energy.
Do you plan to suggest to the U.S. that Canada obtain energy credits for exporting oil from tar sands, by arguing that this would contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in comparison with emissions from coal-fired plants? Do you want to put that hypothesis on the table before the Americans?