Mr. Speaker, while the rest of the world celebrates Earth Day on April 22, Canadians will be left to wonder why the government has abandoned Canada's role as an environmental leader.
Earth Day 2005 was a high water mark for Canada's commitment to the environment. The leader of the official opposition was our environment minister. We announced the greenest budget in Canadian history. The world had asked Canada to chair the UN conference on climate change later that year.
How far we have fallen in the last two years. On Earth Day 2008, we will be left with an Environment Minister who cavorts with known climate change deniers. He advises the Prime Minister, caught funding ads through the University of Calgary, claiming that global warming does not exist.
The government's climate change plan has been denounced by every environmentalist, scientist and economist who has studied it.
On Earth Day 2008, we will have met the government's appalling lack of action on the environment. We also know that Canada has done and can do much better.