Mr. Speaker, the effort required to educate the Conservative Party on issues of international environmental action and obligations would take a lot longer than I think I would be allowed to speak. The Conservatives have been misguided. They have been wrong. They presented a bill before Parliament and I think they sincerely thought it was a good thing. I think they thought it would pass the mustard for Canadians. The groups and scientists, who were working on this issue, were a little stunned and surprised by the vehemence of Canadians, pushing back on them saying that it was dead on arrival.
Working with the Liberal Party is not necessarily the easiest thing to do. An impression has been created by hon. colleague's question that the Liberal Party, when in power, needed the help of the NDP to regulate greenhouse gases under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Liberals had the powers right there all the time. After it was amendment, the capacity to do that was right there.
I talked to the former environment minister about doing that very thing and his response was it was very difficult at the cabinet table because that was where it took place.
What we are suggesting to the hon. member is let us take it from behind the closed doors of cabinet, the veils of secrecy and power, and put it in front of Canadians, here in Parliament. Would that not be a more progressive and enlightened thing to do? We and the environment groups believe so.
When the Liberals were in power, we worked with them to get $1.4 billion for the environment that they did not allot. We rewrote their budget, which was the first time in Canadian history, and we were proud to do it. With a gun to the head, back up against the wall, we used what we could to get the job done on the environment, and we are continuing to fight for the environment from this corner.