Madam Chair, no.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2019, with 55% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, no.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, we are getting into the ridiculous here. The reports of the round table can be downloaded and they can be acquired by hard copy.
As I have said, we thanked the round table for its service for over a quarter century and with respect and consideration we bid them good fortune in the future.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, the short answer to that, and I can only speak for myself in the recent 18 months, is a request was made to the round table to investigate a number of issues with regard to water. We are awaiting two final reports.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I will come back to the fact that we are here to talk about my department and my department's mandate.
I will just remind my colleague of the fact that I am here to manage a clean environment, to manage substances and ways to reduce pollution, to provide for a safer environment, and to provide for a sustainable environment.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I am not going to run through the list for my hon. colleague, but there are any number of organizations. I must say that I was quite impressed when his counterpart, my critic, earlier this evening said that she was not going to set her hair on fire about this.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, the decision is mine.
I think we would more profitably spend our time here this evening talking about exactly what our department is doing to fulfill its mandate, and—
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, my answer as I have given it is the decision was mine. The decision was taken for the reasons that I have just explained. Where the national round table was at one time unique and relevant, it is no longer so.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, this is a well-visited question, and I will offer my hon. colleague the stock response.
When the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy was created a full quarter century ago, there were no other similar public policy bodies which examined the relationship between the economy and the environment. Today there are any number of public policy bodies across academia and private foundations and any number of boards and chambers which now provide that information.
The $5 million that had been spent on the national round table enables us to avoid making cuts in more significant parts of my department.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I have reminded my critics on the other side of the House this evening that the environment commissioner complimented us on our progress to date with regard to the major contaminated sites program in which our government has invested $3.5 billion. We have closed 42% of those sites. We are working for the next seven years to close the rest of those targeted sites.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for refreshing the collective memory of the House about those who went before us.
Under the Copenhagen accord, this government made a commitment to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by, as I have said today, 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. We are firmly committed to achieving this target. We were about a quarter of the way to achieving that target about a year ago. We have progressed significantly since then. I should have some new numbers in the weeks ahead.
What is important is with our sector by sector strategy we are systematically addressing all major sources of emissions. As I have reminded the House this evening, we have already addressed transportation, which contributes about a quarter of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. New regulations are about to be presented with regard to the coal-fired electricity sector. We are consulting with oil and gas, including the oil sands. We will move on to talk to other major emitters: cement, steel, buildings, both commercial and residential, as we work our way around the pie chart and closer to achieving our target of a 17% reduction by 2020.