Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin with congratulations to my colleague, who sits on the standing committee on the Environment, for his motion and for opening up this fundamental debate on climate change.
Along with the congratulations, however, I would like him to know that I am far from being in agreement, not only with the premises of the motion, but also with calling upon this parliament to have Canada not ratify the Kyoto protocol.
I would like clarification of the third aspect of my colleague's premise, which is that ratification of the Kyoto protocol “would impose massive costs on the Canadian economy and result in severe job loss”.
In recent weeks, we have heard statements being made by various public figures, including Alberta's energy minister, who predicted a cost of $40 billion for the economy, and the Chamber of Commerce, whose estimate was $30 billion. However, there have been other studies as well.
According to Nick Marthy, a researcher, the cost for Alberta alone would be $9 billion, or an impact of 0.58% of the GDP. The recent study by Environment Canada, dated March 4, which has had press coverage, said that the impact on the Canadian economy would not be that great: 0.14% of the Alberta growth rate.
My question then is as follows: His motion states that the costs for the Canadian economy will be very high, so what is his evaluation of the costs of ratifying the Kyoto protocol?