I can give you some elements of an answer. I guess there are different kinds of partnerships on fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies. One of the issues with fossil fuel subsidies is that they seem to provide an incentive that is contrary to the incentives we're looking for to make the transition to a low-carbon economy, so in fact one could argue that fossil fuels have a competitive advantage over renewables.
Fossil fuel subsidies are less likely to be challenged, I understand, under the trade regime. I'm not a trade lawyer, but I've read a little bit about it. Because of their nature, they tend to be more diffuse. It's harder to find the challenge there in terms of harm being done.
In terms of what Canada is doing, this is a G7 initiative. I think Canada and the G7 and the G20 agreed to take steps to reduce fossil fuel subsidies in both those fora. In the G7, they're having a series of partnerships to explore fossil fuel subsidies in each of those countries. I think it will be very interesting for Canadians to see what kinds of fossil fuel subsidies there are in Canada so that we can have a debate on that.
The language with respect to the G7 and G20 declarations is rather unfortunate, because it talks about “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”. I haven't found anybody so far who can tell me what an “efficient” fossil fuel subsidy is and what an “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidy is. That gives the negotiators a little bit of wiggle room, but we don't really know what it means.
There are countries who are working on the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies. As a matter of fact, at the latest meeting of the WTO council, it was New Zealand who was trying to move forward on fossil fuels. There are also a couple of initiatives from NGOs. I think they're called “friends of fossil fuel reform”. John might know about this, because he has some IISD connections. There are countries and international NGOs who are working on that issue.
I'll just throw in one more thing. It's not about fossil fuel subsidies, but there is an agreement under the TPP and also, remarkably, under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, to do away with fishing subsidies for fish stocks that are almost depleted. That's a good thing to look at as a model in terms of how to go about addressing subsidies. Maybe there is a process there that can be used to address the issue of fossil fuel subsidies as well more generally.
Thank you.