House debate  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to raise a question again in follow-up to a question that I put to the Minister of Health on April 2. That question related to what action Health Canada had taken to address the incidents of cancer in a northern aboriginal community in Alberta, Fort Chipewyan.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, many studies were commissioned by both the Council of Environment Ministers and the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. It is incumbent upon the government to obtain and review those reports and take into consideration the profound recommendations.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, contrary to the earlier question from the member opposite, it is not paternalistic to bring to the table sage advice and learnings from previous experience. It is for precisely that reason that it is necessary for the government to bring forward these documents and share them with the other nations, particularly emerging nations, so they can learn from the mistakes made previously.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, the only evidence of paternalism I see in this House is evidenced by the minority Conservative government to the will of the House. I ran on a platform of making sure we give due consideration to the rights of workers and our protected environment in any future trade agreements.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, indeed it is most disappointing that we have chosen to take a different path than the path taken by the United States in forging its trade agreement with Peru. Clearly it is practising what it has preached. It is actually taking what were once sidebar agreements in the NAFTA and apparently incorporating them into the binding text of its trade agreements.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, does the hon. member have any experiences that she can share from observing our experience under NAFTA and the side agreement on environmental protection? Do we appear to have learned anything in the crafting of later agreements, including this one?

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, I am rising in the House today to express my profound opposition to this bill. My opposition is 100% premised on the failure to yet again address environmental issues in trade agreements. Twenty years after signing NAFTA and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, we appear to have failed to learn any lessons.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, last week, I, along with the Minister of the Environment, attended meetings with world and industry leaders discussing the climate crisis where we witnessed joint calls by industry and governments alike for expedite action for science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets, a cap and trade regime and shifting investment to clean energy sources.

Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Act  Mr. Speaker, I have had the benefit of four years working with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation under the NAFTA. After two decades of recommendations by public advisory boards actually appointed by the present government and the governments of Mexico and the United States calling for stricter adherence to the environmental agreements and, in fact, taking a step further in incorporating the side labour and environmental agreements into the agreement, could the hon. member please speak to the issue of whether or not it is appropriate that we are still side-barring environmental impacts and labour rights in our trade negotiations?

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table before the House two sets of petitions, both on asbestos. Citizens from British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario call upon the government to ban asbestos in all its forms, to institute a just transition program for asbestos workers in the communities they live in, to end all government subsidies to asbestos in Canada and abroad and to stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the Rotterdam Convention.

Electronic Commerce Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a further question for the member for Churchill. I have noticed in the legislation that while individual private persons who are harmed by spyware or spam have the opportunity to initiate proceedings before the commission, there is no provision in the legislation to allow the court to award costs or require the accused to pay for the costs of initiating those proceedings.

Electronic Commerce Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Churchill for her cogent comments on an extremely serious piece of legislation for the protection of consumers. I have noted that despite the fact that the government is supposed to be paying serious attention, it is not actually going to be an offence in the bill.

Renewable Energy  Madam Speaker, I am fully in favour of the motion put forward by the hon. member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville. Based on what we have heard from the government today on this motion, I have to say that the government simply does not get it. Clean energy, clean electricity is not synonymous with renewable power.

Energy Efficiency Act  Thank you, Madam Speaker, for the intervention on my behalf. I have no problem answering the question. From my personal perspective as the member of Parliament for Edmonton—Strathcona and for my party, we do not care what measure is taken as long as it sets the appropriate value on carbon so we actually start driving change.

Energy Efficiency Act  Madam Speaker, of course we think there is value in the bill or we would not be voting in favour of it. That is not to say that we agree that it will have a significant effect. Obviously it is important for everybody to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases and to cleaner air.