Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his comments and for bringing the environmental context into this debate which is always important.
I have a comment that is a piece of information and then a question.
A number of weeks ago, in a similar debate around budgets and the climate change plans being put forward, he indicated that the Conservative Party had a policy and a plan in terms of how to address the climate change issue. I believe the words he used were “imminently forthcoming”. I would like an update on where that is now. If it has been made public, then that may be true.
Thanks to the member and some of his colleagues on the environment committee, the Canadian Press is now reporting that the governor of North Dakota will be putting a temporary hold on the Devils Lake diversion project. This is somewhat due to the environment committee's unanimous support of a motion we put forward that called on the Canadian government to use whatever means necessary to stop this. I think it was a good move for Canada and it showed how members of Parliament, working together, can actually get something done. I thank the member for his support on that. Perhaps he could comment briefly on the Devils Lake issue.
Secondly, I wonder if he could report on where the plan is. I do not want to harbour old memories of listening to the Liberals talk about the forthcoming plan week after week and I hope we are not following a similar trend. I would just like to know the date or timeline as to when we will see the plan come forward so we can have a debate about the various options. The NDP released our plan five months ago to rave reviews.