Mr. Speaker, on April 3, I rose in the Chamber to put a question to the government relating to Canada's participation at the Berlin meeting on climate change. It was the second time in a week that I had raised the issue, hoping the federal government would announce a real action plan aimed at establishing and stabilizing our levels of greenhouse gases. I was not to be satisfied.
The Berlin talks were the result of the June 1992 meeting of 106 of the world's nations held in Rio de Janeiro. At that meeting Canada made commitments which sadly we have not kept.
At the time of my last intervention in the House of Commons I reminded members that when we look at what has happened since the Rio meeting we do not have to look too far to see that nearly nine billion more tonnes of carbon have accumulated in the atmosphere and the evidence of climate change is mounting.
In response to the crisis the Minister of the Environment even went so far as to say that if Canada and the other nations emitting greenhouse gases do not do something about this, climate change and global warming will create a situation in which floods will occur off the east coast of Canada and the tiny and beautiful province of Prince Edward Island will be all but submerged.
It is hard for me to imagine that the Minister of the Environment knows about the possibility of this catastrophic event occurring but is not prepared to take immediate and dramatic actions to combat it.
In Berlin the Minister of the Environment pushed the plan for trading technology between industrialized and developing countries, but she put forward few details on measures to reduce greenhouse gases. She was criticized and continues to be criticized because this is not an action plan at all. The minister is said to have blocked progress on an agreement that would contain specific goals and deadlines for further reductions. The minister seems to have loss sight of the fact that Canada is committed to cutting carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000.
It appears Canada will likely be up by 13 per cent above 1990 levels by the year 2000. As a result there is no question a real action plan which contains timetables and targets is an absolute necessity if this critical world problem is ever to be properly addressed.
For all intents and purposes the United Nations climate change conference wrapped up by accomplishing very little. Despite the urgent need for world action and despite the opportunity that Canada had to play a leadership role, the problem remains. More talks are needed to reach agreements for specific reductions.
The minister has put on a brave face, claiming the agreement to set new objectives by 1997 is a step forward-to quote her properly, a big win for everybody. Surely she cannot really believe this, especially if she wants to avoid moving the entire population of the province of Prince Edward Island.
When I read the news reports of the Berlin conference I cannot help but see the April 8 editorial that appeared in the Vancouver Sun which called the conference's conclusion a national humiliation. The Sierra Club indicated the results of the conference showed from Canada a shocking abdication of leadership.
Canada did, however, show leadership recently in the turbot war. Canada was prepared to take drastic action in the name of conservation of the fish stock off the continental shelf. Where is this same leadership in the name of conservation of the earth itself?
At the time of my question in early April there was media speculation that the federal government had lost its interest in the environment and had cut back federal spending in this regard to the point at which Environment Canada was no longer effective. This week we discovered that the much touted green plan was among those cuts and no longer exists.
In this regard, when will the Minister of the Environment and the federal government take up the political will necessary to strengthen the federal role on domestic environmental issues so that we will once again have true and meaningful credibility at the international level?