Mr. Speaker, I do not as yet recollect having mentioned a plan, but we tabled a plan in the House on Thursday, November 21 and I believe copies were sent to every member of Parliament. If by any chance the hon. member lost his, we can get him another one. This is not part of my presentation so far. I will get into that. The hon. member is anticipating what I have here.
The international scientific community has been working to understand climate change for decades, largely through the United Nations' institutions and processes. Canada has shown leadership in that effort from the very start. In fact, the first major international conference on climate change took place in Toronto. Canada welcomed 300 policy-makers, scientists and leaders from business and environmental groups from 46 countries at that Toronto meeting in 1988. That started the process which led to the United Nations framework convention on climate change.
Under the personal leadership and interest of Prime Minister Mulroney, Canada was deeply involved in those negotiations. We signed the Rio convention in 1992 and, yes, we ratified that convention in December of the same year. I trust the hon. member and leader of the Conservative Party remembers these events.
It is worth quoting what the Mulroney government ratified 10 years ago and what we are still bound to today. That document which is the Rio convention reads:
The ultimate objective of this Convention and any related legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may adopt is to achieve, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.