I would like to thank you all for coming.
I would like to ask Mr. Lemaire a couple of questions. I really appreciated your presentation, in part because it was in French, which is a rather rare thing here at the Standing Committee on Finance, and in part because you told us about the importance of setting up a greenhouse gas emissions trading exchange. The Bloc Québecois has, for a long time, been talking about the need for proceeding with the Kyoto Protocol, setting binding objectives and absolute greenhouse gas reduction caps for environmental reasons, since we need to take care of our planet and because this carbon exchange creates new economic opportunities for our companies.
The government has always responded by saying that in fact absolute targets for reducing greenhouse gases pursuant to the Kyoto protocol would be, for all intents and purposes, an economic catastrophe. However, I have heard what you are saying. You are a businessman, you want your company to be profitable and I would imagine that you see this as, on the contrary, an opportunity to do business.
I would like you to explain to us, in greater detail, how this carbon exchange would be, in your opinion, a real business opportunity for Quebec and Canadian industries. You also talked about the fact that this carbon exchange would be in Montreal. Why do you think that Montreal should be the location for such a carbon exchange?