Mr. Speaker, the government is saying some outrageous things today, through the parliamentary secretary. First of all, he says that supporting these amendments by the Conservative Party will exclude Canadian companies from the emission credit trading mechanism. That is totally wrong. The proof of this is that there are already Quebec and Canadian companies taking part in such trades. For instance Alcan, TransAlta and Pechiney are involved in a pilot project at the Chicago stock exchange.
These amendments are not intended to exclude Canadian companies, but rather to avoid the government's trying to get around respecting its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments by purchasing pollution credits elsewhere using the taxpayers' money.
Will the government admit that voting in favour of this amendment by the Conservative Party does not mean that businesses will be excluded?