House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 35% of the vote.
Kyoto Protocol February 19th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that, here in the House the Bloc Quebecois is not the government of the province of Quebec.
It is my duty as a federal minister to negotiate with all the provinces, including the province of Quebec. I will do so during the planned consultations, not just with the province of Quebec but with the nine other provinces and the three territories as well.
Kyoto Protocol February 19th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I am in frequent contact with the provincial minister of the Quebec government on environment, Mr. Boisclair. We frequently discuss this. We had two meetings last fall. We will have a meeting later this week. We will have another meeting in May. There will be consultations no doubt in between.
What the government will not do is accept the hon. member's principle that decisions taken in past decades should somehow eliminate any reduction of carbon in the atmosphere now. We have to recognize the problem is now and decisions taken in the past, many decades ago, are not adequate to secure what we need.
Kyoto Protocol February 19th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question does not deal with the real issue.
We must consult with the provinces, including Quebec, before making a decision regarding ratification. We are not a party, we are not a government that, given the uncertainty and the concerns of the provinces, will act without consulting them.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I guess I could explain that in our constitution there are certain rights that provinces have. The federal government should not override them. It should enter into consultations where there is the opportunity for joint action.
To be asked by a member from the province of Quebec to ignore the rights of provinces, to ignore their constitutional responsibilities and to proceed willy-nilly, is I think absurd.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I find it absolutely astonishing that a representative who was elected in the province of Quebec would come here and tell us that somehow his province would be penalized if the federal government does not force measures on people without proper consultation with the provinces, including the province of Quebec. It is an astonishing position for such a member to put forward in the House.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I am astonished that a member from Alberta would not understand the connection between providing the United States with clean energy to replace other forms of energy that have higher greenhouse gas emissions, which is good for the Canadian economy, good for the economy of the oil and gas industry in Alberta and good for climate change.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, normally that party tells us that we should do exactly what we are told by Washington, now it is exactly what we are told by Moscow.
We will ratify Kyoto after we have had full consultation with the provinces, the territories, industry groups and the general public. However we will not do that until we have a plan in place that will guarantee no unfair, onerous burden on any region of the country.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, last fall we had two joint meetings of energy ministers and environment ministers of the territories, the provinces and the federal government. We will be meeting later this week with those ministers and again in May. I believe we are carrying out the very type of consultation that will lead to an intelligent, cost effective, mutually agreed upon process for arriving at the decision on ratification.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the right hon. gentleman should understand that this is not strictly a federal program. It will be a program for all governments of Canada, federal, provincial and territorial. It will include major involvement of industry.
We will not come down from the mountain with a plan to lay before everybody else and say, as has been suggested by the two parties that spoke before the right hon. gentleman, that this is it, that we have ratified regardless of anyone else's views. We will consult and real consultation means taking into account what we hear from other people as well as presenting our own views.
Kyoto Protocol February 18th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is once again confused on this issue. It is not possible to achieve the Kyoto target for Canada relying only on one sector of one industry, namely the transit area. We cannot do that and have a fair program across the country which takes advantage of the cost effective measures that may exist in other sectors of the economy or in other parts of the country.
I urge her to take part in the consultation process, not keep insisting upon ratification without taking in the views of the provinces, of the territories, of interested organizations or the public in general.