Mr. Chair, I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Liberal Party and to ask the Minister of Natural Resources some questions this evening. My focus will be primarily on asking questions.
Being the Minister of Natural Resources is a challenging task. Not only does the minister have to oversee the development of Canada's natural resources, but because natural resources can have consequences when they are developed, he must also show that he has a keen understanding of the consequences that can occur if these resources are not developed in a sustainable manner.
I have to admit that in recent weeks, on his trips to the United States and Europe, he has certainly raised eyebrows with respect to the things he has said with regard to climate change, raising questions about whether he really understands the subject very clearly. I am going to be asking him some questions about that, but first I want to get back to a question my colleague from the NDP tried to ask him three times, unsuccessfully. It concerned the fact that there is on MERX a request for services for a contract of up to half a million dollars. If I may quote from it, it says that “NRCan will acquire the required media relations training for the Minister and senior NRCan officials”. It is understandable that my colleague got confused, because it does actually say “the Minister”.
I would like to ask the minister whether his intention is to avail himself of any of that half a million dollars to do some media training.