Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Dan, for this unexpected opportunity.
Minister, thank you for being before committee. Thank you for your personal commitment to climate action. It's evident. You know that you have my deepest respect in knowing that you care. When you say that we “cannot afford to wait”, I firmly believe you mean it, which is why I'm very disappointed with this legislation.
My first question is why. In developing this legislation, it seems apparent that Environment and Climate Change Canada chose not to study the climate accountability acts of other countries—the U.K., New Zealand, Denmark—and to do better than what they recommend. In three places I note the differences with that legislation: We don't start right away with a five-year target, with five years from when the legislation started, the milestone year; we don't include carbon budgets; and we don't rely on an expert committee that reports to the whole of Parliament and actually sets those carbon budgets for the government.
There must have been a decision not to look at the gold standard of climate accountability elsewhere in the world. I wonder why not.