International Trade committee  Just to be clear, to use the CPTPP as an example and the U.K. trying to gain accession to that agreement, Australia and New Zealand signed side letters with the U.K. removing ISDS from those bilateral agreements within that agreement, yet Canada didn't.

Public Accounts committee  We definitely spoke with many past and current board members, and even the assistant deputy minister, and there was confusion around what the role was. That was very clear. Yes, some of the board members voiced to us that it was an implicit agreement, in their mind, that nothing had been raised by—

Natural Resources committee  Yes. I've discussed some of my concerns, but just to be clear, I had no concerns with any of the specific things that were being evaluated. I think that in the context of a fast-growing industry, that makes sense, but the moratorium was unnecessary.

International Trade committee  We try to make it clear to Canadian companies that in some parts of the world, there is a high risk they will use—

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I should make sure that the record is clear. I wouldn't want to speak for the Auditor General, but the Auditor General made an independent decision to conduct an audit. As much as we enjoy working with the Auditor General, it was not at our invitation.

International Trade committee  At the Department of Agriculture, we work very closely with colleagues in Global Affairs and our diplomatic presence across the United States at the embassy and in the consulates, as well as with business, provinces and territories, to make that message clear.

Public Accounts committee  The member highlights an area where, as we noted in our report, the conflict of interest policy established by the board of directors of the foundation did not comply with the act. Absolutely the act is clear that an individual should not personally benefit, yet their policies just provided for a blackout period. They were much less restrictive on board members than they were on the employees of the foundation.

Public Accounts committee  I'll have to get back to you on that. Just to be clear for the member, this is an area we've been looking at deeply. Work is under way to renovate the role of the observer. I'll have to get back to you with the details. I'd be happy to do that.

Business of Supply  I will not take any lectures from her on slogans and how that is working for her. To the question at hand of what we have been very clear on, a number of clean-energy projects have been proposed across this country, but because of red tape by the government specifically, they have been withdrawn. In Nova Scotia, for example, a tidal energy company wanted to bring forward projects that would create jobs and clean energy, and have an impact in reducing our emissions.

Business of Supply  In 1904, Wilfrid Laurier said that “the 20th century shall be the century of Canada”. While that could be true, what is clear is that the 21st century is the century of Quebec. Each Quebecker produces 2.5 times less greenhouse gas emissions than an Ontarian, six times less than an Albertan and seven times less than an individual in Saskatchewan.

Natural Resources committee  You touched on a point that I made, which is the polarization around the energy discussion in this country. I'm not trying to point fingers at any one side. Just to be clear in what I'm saying, I think it's polarized on both sides. On one side, we have those who think we can make a very rapid transition to an all-renewables system, which unfortunately is not technically feasible today.

Environment committee  You've seen the transparency that we have in terms of the emissions that we have from our core sectors, whether it's automotive, transportation, energy or manufacturing. We're very clear on the emissions that are coming from our lending portfolio. We've made commitments to reduce those to net zero by 2030. We've made commitments to reduce our clients' emissions, and from that perspective, I think we've—

Environment committee  To be clear, the request was for our financing from fossil fuels.

Environment committee  I'll ask Mr. Green. Could you be clear on the request?

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I could speak briefly to the issue of the conflicts of interest. It is abundantly clear that processes and procedures were not followed in the diligent way they needed to be by the board in exercising its responsibilities. The statute itself, a statute passed by Parliament 20-something years ago, mandates that the board of directors be composed of people—this is my layperson's explanation—with expertise in the clean-tech industry.