Mr. Speaker, where the protection and promotion of the environment is concerned, collaboration between the federal and provincial governments is not only desirable but necessary and essential, if there is to be any significant outcome.
The following are two examples of measures announced in the budget 2000, which call precisely for this concerted effort by all environmental stakeholders.
First example: budget 2000 extends the climate change action fund by three years. Its budget will be increased to $70 million annually. Hon. members will recall that the purpose of this fund is to finance the development of clean and economic energy technologies.
Second example: the budget provides $60 million to create and fund the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, which will create a network among climate science institutes and universities across Canada.
These are the types of active measures that involve society as a whole, not one specific government, in order to safeguard its own quality of life.