Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join this debate on global climate change. Like other members, I regret the 10 minute time limit. I would be glad to speak at great length on this topic and I am sure members would be glad to listen to me if the rules allowed.
As we have heard this evening from the Reform Party, there are still those who believe that climate change is not occurring. They think we have nothing to worry about and we can go on living and consuming as we have done for decades.
It is true there is a debate about the nature of climate change but no informed person could possibly believe that human induced changes are not occurring at an ever increasing rate.
The great forests of the earth are disappearing rapidly. Perhaps I should say that the great forest of the earth is disappearing rapidly. Huge areas that were previously covered with vegetation are now regularly laid bare for agriculture. Some of them have become deserts. Automobiles and factories with their emissions are still multiplying and so on.
All of these things, including the very existence of our cities, have already affected climate. Some of the direct effects on the atmosphere of such changes are already well established. It is not a matter of conjecture.
Carbon dioxide, CO2, has been increasing in the atmosphere for generations. This is one of the greenhouse gases which traps heat in the atmosphere.
Increases in other greenhouse gases have become measurable in more recent times. These include methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and tropospheric, that is to say near the ground, ozone. Increases in these and other greenhouse gases should cause global warming.
Despite the selective science we have heard from the Reform Party, there is no scientific debate about the increases which I have mentioned. The debate arises as to the long term nature, magnitude and rate of change. The global system is so huge and complex that it is not easy to predict how the system will ultimately react to such changes and what its feedbacks will be, but the great weight of informed scientific opinion around the world is on the side of global warming.
The fact is that we insignificant human beings have got to the point where we can measurably interfere with this huge global system of which we are a part. I do not know which is more scary, the fact that we can significantly alter this global system in a situation where we can predict the effects or the fact that we can significantly alter this global system when we cannot predict the effects.
I happen to believe that one of the results of the changes, like those I have mentioned, is global warming. I believe that the warming, with its various and enormous side effects, has already begun.
I say this despite the fact that, with colleagues, I am in the process of publishing three papers on glaciers and a lake which, for particular reasons, failed to demonstrate measurable global warming. I thank God that the changes we are looking at are not yet so large that they can be detected with the data and time periods that we happen to have available.
From the point of view of this debate, from the point of view of us as members of Parliament, does it matter whether we are sure about global warming? If there is a chance of it, surely we should take reasonable steps to prevent it on simple precautionary grounds.
The changes which we have measured are bad enough in themselves. Who wants to live in an atmosphere of increasing ground-level ozone or nitrous acid, even if the climate is not warming? Ground-level ozone affects our lungs. It makes breathing difficult for those with lung problems. It decreases athletic performance. It also has a significant impact on agricultural production. Studies show that it already costs tens of millions of dollars a year in Ontario alone.
The fact is that a polluted atmosphere is an effective greenhouse atmosphere. Who wants to live in a poisonous greenhouse, whether it be warm or cold?
Greenhouse gases, including ground-level ozone and acid gases, can be reduced and air quality can be improved by tough emission standards for vehicles, factories and homes. We can use gasolines with lower amounts of volatile organic compounds. We can also reduce those gases by saving energy through recycling and other sensible measures mentioned by the Minister of the Environment.
We should never consume energy unnecessarily. It is inefficient, uneconomical and unhealthy to do so.
Greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollution can also be decreased by reforestation and proper forest management, and by low till and other appropriate agricultural practices.
As has been mentioned today, there is another well-known example of human interference with the only atmosphere that we have, and that is depletion of ozone in the stratosphere. I have to say that we are in a very difficult position because of these human actions of trying to increase ozone in the stratosphere and decrease ozone near the earth's surface as a result of the complications we have produced.
The ozone in the stratosphere shields us from ultraviolet radiation which causes skin cancer and other horrors. The action in slowing and one day stopping the depletion of ozone, in which Canada played a key part, is often touted as an example of what nations can do to prevent the deterioration of our globe.
Members should remember that despite the unprecedented international action on ozone depletion, the ozone layer will not be restored for 50 years. Until then, skin cancer rates and other effects will still be high.
As I have said, we are dealing with a huge system: our atmosphere. By the time we can detect effects, it is often too late. It is a bit like trying to turn a supertanker around, only more so. I believe that the people of Canada want their government, their businesses, their unions, all their leaders to set an example in combating global change. They know that in the long run the only development that is possible is sustainable development.
Let's take the lead in this matter in Kyoto and beyond.