Mr. Speaker, last December, all eyes were on Montreal as it hosted the United Nations conference on climate change. The conference was very successful and Canada was applauded around the globe for its leadership in matters of the environment. This Canadian success was praised by heads of state, environmental groups and the international press.
Today, the minister has confirmed something for us: the Conservatives are abandoning this leadership, they are abandoning the Kyoto protocol and they are abandoning the environment. Why did the Minister of the Environment become, so quickly and so unfortunately, the minister of abandonment?