Mr. Speaker, I stand to congratulate the Hon. Minister of the Environment for being the first Canadian to be elected as president of the governing council of the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP.
UNEP is a forum for governments to tackle critical environmental issues. Canada is now positioned to become a leader in developing the international environmental agenda for the next two years.
In the same forum scientists warned that greenhouse gases that have been locked in the Arctic's permafrost for millennia are now being released because of global warming. Damage to the permafrost will unleash enormous environmental harm, thus the need for UNEP to attempt a speedy ratification of the 1997 Kyoto protocol.
Canada, as a signatory and now positioned to be a world leader, must demonstrate that we are working diligently to honour our commitments made in Kyoto.