Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Marcel, I am moved by your speech. I will come back to that in a moment.
Mr. Allen, your presentation talks a little about the point Mr. Cullen just raised. You said, and I quote:
—we urge this committee to resist the urge to let its recommendations devolve into inter-jurisdictional wrangling—
Clearly, we are on complete agreement on that point. However, federal jurisdiction is extremely limited. There are a number of things in your presentation that fall much more under provincial rather than federal jurisdiction.
You are making recommendations to the federal government on how it can improve environmental policies. As Mr. Cullen mentioned, you are saying that you have no jurisdiction over the environment, but you will address sole matters related to economic sustainability. Here, you are talking about sustainable development.
Personally I quite agree with what you are saying about economic sustainability. This morning, at a meeting of another committee, witnesses demonstrated that there was a direct link between green house gases and economic development. If green house gases are not taken into consideration, innovation will decrease and other countries will enjoy greater profitability than us. In other words, if we push companies to deal with green house gases using technological innovation, they will become more efficient. If those companies are more efficient, they will be able to drop their prices, instead of thinking that this will cost more.
In your area, what is your capacity for making manufacturers and corporations understand this economic dimension which means that economic sustainability can only come from technological innovation. I am not talking about the environment, because this is more a municipal and provincial jurisdiction than a federal one. I am talking about green house gases.