David Anderson

[Kyoto Protocol, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we have no intention of discriminating against any region of the country. This is why it is so important to enlist the cooperation of the provinces and territories to develop a national plan.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple. The federal government has certain powers and the provinces also have powers. We want both levels of government, including the territories, to work together to arrive at a plan for Canada in which no region of the country will be adversely affected.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition must have taken some absence from this place. We have been working with the Province of Alberta since 1997 on the Kyoto accord.

The Alliance members who surround him also appear ignorant of the fact that it was Alberta and the federal government that chaired the federal-provincial-territorial working group for five full years.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the delay in the meeting is so that we can take advantage of the consultations that are taking place.

It also allows us to take advantage of the very important work done by the Alberta government, which presented a paper only two or three days ago. In addition, the province of Quebec has made representations in the last few days which are very valuable to us as we assess what we should do on the 28th of this month.

[The Environment, October 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, last December, we sent out a letter advising the company in question that it was violating the law. Since then, we have been working together with provincial authorities, the other federal departments and the company to remedy the situation. But, as the hon. member pointed out, the problem is continuing, and it is clear that we must intensify our efforts.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am simply delighted that the Leader of the Opposition is now focusing on an issue that we have been working on for some years.

Yes, there are potentials for alternative fuels, which have other aspects to them, that may not be 100% of what we want. Therefore, we are working on that. There is a heavy technical aspect.

However, I can assure him that CO

2

does have an effect upon air quality in Canada because other pollutants emitted into the atmosphere, such as nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide, need heat to make the smog that we see so often in Canada, and that is what--

[Kyoto Protocol, October 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have long thought that the Leader of the Opposition needed a little more information about the Kyoto accord. I am delighted he is now requesting it at this stage.

The Kyoto accord in no way limits Canada in how it goes about achieving its target. Of course there are some counting rules relevant to Kyoto which are important. However we can do what we wish within Canada. That is exactly why I talk about it as a made in Canada plan that we are trying to devise.

With respect to clean energy exports, Canada believes these to be very important because they reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and we want to encourage that.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, for some five years, the government has been talking about a made in Canada solution, which is of course something that is put together by the provinces, territories and the federal government jointly. After all, it was a reference from all 14 first ministers back in 1997 which started the process. We were disappointed that Alberta pulled out of the co-chair this summer. However we hope Alberta will come back so we can have all governments participating in creating something entirely made in Canada so we can achieve our objective.

[Agriculture, October 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has correctly pointed out the devastating impact of drought in many parts of Canada, in particular south central Alberta.

This is of course one of those extreme weather events which we can expect to be more frequent, to have longer duration and to have greater intensity because of climate change.

It is important for us to attack and to deal with the causes of the problems of farmers in Canada that are related to extreme weather events, as well as of course carrying out other measures which can deal with short term effects or short term opportunities for taking care of immediate difficulty.

[Kyoto Protocol, October 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member makes no effort to understand the agreement, I do not expect him to support it. That is fair enough, but I do think he should make an effort to understand it. He may not succeed, but I think it is possible.

All I can say is that we expect to have a plan to implement the Kyoto accord as outlined by the Prime Minister. We will have it in place. We will have it before the provinces because we want a made in Canada approach, every province and territory working with the federal government.