Government Appointments  Mr. Speaker, a year ago when the Prime Minister finally clawed his way to the top job he promised to put an end to the politics of cronyism. Obviously this was just another empty promise rather than a sincere commitment to changing how Liberals do their shady business. The environment committee reviewed Glen Murray's nomination as chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and the committee said no.

Government Appointments  Mr. Speaker, the only qualification this person seems to have is who he knew in the PMO. It is another promise made and another promise broken. The NRTEE is going to be asked to do some very important work over the coming years, picking up the slack for a cabinet that cannot seem to decide on how to get Kyoto done.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is quite vociferous on these environmental issues. I have seen him acting this way in committee. I am a bit confused about one section of what he said. A few weeks ago we had a motion before this House to enforce mandatory fuel emissions standards, which I thought he was in favour of and which would have gone a long way to meeting our targets.

Fisheries  Mr. Speaker, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is promoting seriously flawed policies that are threatening the coastal communities of British Columbia. The science around open net farming is clear: this man-made technology is threatening the existence of wild salmon and destroying a tradition that is centuries old.

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans seems to be poised to grant approval to reopen the Tulsequah Chief mine in northwestern British Columbia. Previously, the DFO was on record with concerns about how this project would affect the salmon bearing streams and caribou herds of the Taku region.

Supply  Madam Chair, I am disappointed the hon. member did not get to finish his speech. I was looking forward to the conclusion and summation. The harmonization aspect that he is talking about is exactly what we are looking at. When we have California, New York, Maine, Washington and a number of other states starting to sign up, we start to look at 50% of the auto market.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am deeply saddened to have missed the beginning of the parliamentary secretary's speech. I was on a call-in show in Victoria and another one in Vancouver. Canadians are deeply impressed with this motion and the concept of finally bringing forward mandatory regulations.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the Bloc member for his comments. I have only one question. The Liberals have said that they are unable to support this motion, due to ongoing negotiations with the industry. I would like him to comment on this. As for the Conservatives, they say that it is very easy for the Bloc to support this motion, because there is no industry of this type in Quebec, and that this is why the Bloc will vote in favour of the NDP motion.

Supply  Madam Speaker, that was done excellently well with a straight face. The government talks about blazing the trail. I am curious as to why I did not hear support for the motion in the hon. member's speech. We have heard the rumours that various ministers are involved with negotiations in the auto sector seeking to have an actual number put in place.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the government is asking me to analyze the effectiveness of its own policies. Clearly if the plans that the hon. member mentioned were effective, we would not have had a 20% increase instead of the promised 20% decrease. We talk about the plan constantly.

Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his excitable question. The motion has brought forward a great amount of ire. I am looking to the motion to find out where the great amount of fear is and the specifics of what the member is describing. The member asked what our plans are and what devious contraptions we have hidden within the motion.

Supply  Madam Speaker, that is an excellent question and a fair observation. The most important aspect of the motion is that it creates the framework for the negotiations between the Government of Canada and the auto sector to say that voluntary standards are no longer an option, that it must move toward the mandatory.

Supply  Waiting for Godot and others. We might need to rename this Liberal Party. Many people say that we should not have mandatory regulations because this will hurt the auto sector, that this will drive jobs away from Canada. Drive jobs away to where? We know that California is looking at strict emissions as well as New York, Illinois and Maine.

Supply  moved: That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the public health impacts of smog and the failure of voluntary emission standards by legislating mandatory improvements to vehicle efficiency in all classes of light duty vehicles sold in Canada. Mr. Speaker, I feel as if I have been a runner poised in the starting blocks for the last 25 minutes.

Supply  Absolutely shameful. We think we have found a way that makes sense for Canadians and the auto sector to step into the new economy and into a future that we can be proud of for all Canadians. Some people dispute the seriousness of smog. I would like to quote a few numbers for members so they will understand how important this is to Canadians as they go about their daily business.