House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 35% of the vote.
Kyoto Protocol February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, there are several studies. There are the ones saying that it will cost the Canadian economy nothing to attain the goal of 6% less than the 1990 level. There are others, such as the one the minister from Alberta proposed yesterday, which say that the cost will be very high. There are many differing views on these two positions.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, surprisingly perhaps the hon. member did not hear but I answered that question with reference to the drought earlier this week in answer to a question from the Alliance.
I pointed out that there are serious costs to prairie farmers. There are serious costs to northerners. There are serious costs to Canadians who had an ice storm here and floods in Manitoba and in the Saguenay region. There are serious costs resulting from those extreme weather situations arising out of the global warming problem.
I answered the question earlier. I urge the hon. member to wait until--
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as is the case with so many opposition questions, the hon. member has essentially answered his own question with respect to the comments of the hon. minister from Alberta.
Let me simply say that we are having an ongoing process with the provinces, the territories and other interested people such as business people and ordinary Canadians to make sure we do have the figures that are clear. Therefore when a decision on ratification is taken, Canadians will know what the burden might be. We will make sure at that time that the burden is spread equally and is not unfair to any one region of the country.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the question of the hon. member misrepresents the position of the government. Again let me repeat it. I want it to be very clear so that he fully understands.
The government has said consistently, myself, the Minister of Natural Resources, the previous Minister of Natural Resources, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, that we will have full consultation with all sectors involved, the provinces, the territories, industry, interested Canadians, and we will do that before making the final decision of ratification.
That said, our aim is to ratify, and we wish to ratify.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether there is a wall of glass and those members cannot hear what is said on this side of the room. The fact is, as I have said to the Leader of the Opposition, we intend to have a full discussion with the provinces, a full discussion with the territories, a full discussion with companies that are interested in the energy field and other areas. We are going to have full discussions with the Canadian public before we come to the final decision.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I feel I have the right to correct inaccurate information the hon. member put forward about the position of myself and other government ministers.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the misrepresentation was on my position, not the quote from my colleague and he knows that.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the second question demonstrates an even greater misunderstanding of the situation than the first.
The fact is, if the hon. member had listened to the response, we are having discussions with the provinces, the territories, interested groups and the Canadian public so we can bring together all the information necessary. There are provincial officials working with federal and territorial officials on the issue of costing, among other aspects. This will happen. The process is working.
His demands for figures that have constantly been put forward, which as has been indicated are not yet fully available because the work is not yet fully done, just does not make a lot of sense.
The Environment February 22nd, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member simply misrepresents the situation.
The government has consistently said that it intends to have full consultation with provinces, territories, interested organizations such as companies and NGOs, and the Canadian public so that it can in fact have full knowledge of the situation. That will be done before the ratification decision is made.
Kyoto Protocol February 21st, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I will be meeting with ministers of energy and the environment from the provinces and territories on Monday and Tuesday in Victoria. This is a continuation of a series of meetings. We had one in Manitoba in September, another in Ontario in October and, after the upcoming meetings, there will be another in May.
At these meetings we bring forward the information from our officials. We are discussing it and trying to work out what would be the least impact scenario for the ratification of Kyoto and, of course, in addition to the ratification question, reaching the minus 6% target of 1990 which the Prime Minister set in 1997.