Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will give my presentation in both French and English, although we have well-qualified interpreters here with us. I attended the Bali Conference as an adviser. I was accompanied by Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the former assistant deputy minister at Environme

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  I did chair a meeting, in a so-called side event organized by the Canadian delegation, that was supposed to be made up of two elements, the first being a presentation of carbon capture and storage by industrial specialists in that field. And to my knowledge, their membership in t

Environment committee  To my knowledge, the minister, in his address to the plenary session, mentioned a 20% reduction by 2020. This is what I heard him say.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  Yes. I saw it when it was published.

Environment committee  I was not in a position to do that.

Environment committee  That happened on the last day, and I was on a plane that day.

Environment committee  Let me give an explanation about that. It happened to many people. The conference overshot by 24 hours--it's a normal delay--and it put many people in a position of having to choose between missing the last day or maybe waiting a week to get back. Since I was an adviser--and may

Environment committee  I wouldn't want to over-inflate the importance of the role of Mr. Morton, me, Mary Simon, or Elizabeth Dowdeswell. I think we were there to give advice to the minister, some of which he solicited, some of which we volunteered. He demonstrated great openness about that. That said

Environment committee  Yes, Mr. Bigras. Canada was remarkably proactive in the area of environmental negotiations beginning in the late 1980s, at the time of the Brundtland report. At the Rio Conference, Canada made a substantial contribution. It made a certain number of commitments, including regardi

Environment committee  Again, the issue was not framed in that manner, but yes, we had the opportunity to discuss everything which was as stake, be it mitigation, adaptation, advances in technology, financing or science. I am not surprised at what happened with the 2°C reference. The IPCC has been in e

Environment committee  I said earlier that I was not present when that decision was taken. It was taken at the very last minute. However, the minister went to Bali with what was obviously a mandate from cabinet or one he had given himself. You know as well as I do that a minister does not make a commit

Environment committee  I was involved in the Rio process for almost four years. Then in 1993 or 1994 I was involved in the convention on desertification, which was one of the promises of Rio to largely African countries. I was a mediator between G-77 countries and OECD countries on financial aspects of

Environment committee  I guess that's pretty much at the heart of the issue: either we think climate change is important, or it isn't. I happen to believe it is. It's also my perception that the minister believes it is. He has stated and reiterated in front of us, and I believe publicly, that he accept