David Anderson

[The Environment, June 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in an effort to have an entirely arm's length analysis of the Canadian government's performance and Canada's performance in this regard, we put the work in the hands of a private company which carried out the study. The company has reported. The government is now examining it.

I think that if the hon. member looks back on past performances of Canadian governments and Canada as a whole, he will see that Canada normally ranks about second, third or fourth out of the 123 countries that are normally checked on this particular file.

[Kyoto Protocol, May 31st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada intends to continue with the plan that was laid out back in 1997, which is of course to consult fully with Canadians, including the provinces and territories, to make sure we have a plan in place for ratification of Kyoto which does not disadvantage any particular region of the country and then to make up our minds on the ratification issue.

I appreciate the hon. member's support for ratification but I think it is appropriate that we continue with the process of consultation and that we come to a decision for Canada which would have the appropriate input from provinces, territories, industries and the general public.

[The Environment, May 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to tell the hon. member that we are in discussions with the province of Ontario at the present time. My expectation is that we will be able to make the announcement that he asked for in the very near future, but I can assure him and the House that despite the fact that this has not yet been signed, ongoing work is continuing.

In fact, in the last year some $3 million was made available for projects under the general terms of the agreement, and we intend to make further financing announcements, regardless of the announcement with respect to the agreement, over the months to come.

[The Environment, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in Spain the right hon. Prime Minister reiterated for the Europeans a position which he made clear in the House, that clean energy exports are a very important part of our discussions with other countries, particularly the Europeans.

The hon. member comes from Saskatchewan and is also a member of the NDP. I would ask him why is it that the NDP premier of Saskatchewan does not appear to be enthusiastic in following the route the member proposed?

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it has been made abundantly clear in the House by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Works and Government Services that when there are issues which lead to the concern over corruption, the appropriate path is for the material and information to be placed in the hands of the authorities so an impartial investigation can be carried out.

If that were done by the opposition which is so quick to use the word corruption, perhaps then we could get to the bottom of these things. There is a constant stream of accusations happening here with no--

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the seriousness of the hon. member's question is shown by the fact that his colleagues seem to have no interest whatsoever in the reply.

The fact is that the Prime Minister is attending important meetings in Europe with the European Commission and the European Union. He is currently, as we know, discussing matters of considerable importance to Canada. The Deputy Prime Minister is in New York, similarly on a very important mission for the country. These are perfectly normal trips and nothing to draw attention to.

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the words the Prime Minister expressed at the beginning of his government remain in force. We have exactly the same positions we had then.

I might point out to the right hon. gentleman, who was a member of the government previous to ours, that the reason we put in place such standards was because of the lack of them in the previous government.

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the words of the Prime Minister expressed at that time remain--

[The Environment, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this is another case where the Alliance members find the spending programs of the government are small and insignificant because of course we are so responsible fiscally. They believe in major expenditure.

I am delighted to hear the support of the Alliance Party for substantial increases in the amount of money we put into alternate energy and into research. We are delighted to see this change of heart.

With respect to the Alberta government, my hon. friend said in Hansard on April 18 “it is not reasonable that Canada should get credit for American emissions reductions”. Here is what the minister from Alberta said--

[The Environment, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we have major programs in this area. I must get together with my hon. friend. Perhaps we could have lunch together and I could go over the many programs in this area where we are promoting this.

I might add that in his own home province of Alberta, MLA Denis Ducharme is the chairman of the Alberta Energy Research Institute. I do not think that could be a conflict of interest, but nevertheless he is an MLA as well. I am pleased that he said, and I am quoting from a newspaper “Kyoto targets are reachable in a time frame not far off the Kyoto 2012 deadline”.

That is pretty good. I am pleased that Alberta is with us on this.