Environment committee  Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting me here. As I indicated to the clerk, I do not have an opening statement, which is why your members do not have in hand an opening statement in both languages. I could say just a little bit about myself and why I suspect I may have been invi

Environment committee  Not to interrupt the member, but it would be great if we could have the very latest version. I know the one I printed off the web has the independent commissioner in it still. That's my own fault.

Environment committee  Mr. Chair, in responding to Mr. McGuinty's very good question, I want to say that although I'm not a political person I tend to be conservative in my views about how government works--small “c” conservative. So I must say that in reading the bill--and I'm conscious that the aut

Environment committee  I think you could ground it in an obligation that you put on the government, which of course is headed by the Prime Minister, to produce a sustainable development strategy. You could have a statutory obligation to produce a sustainable development strategy. What that should look

Environment committee  I agree with Mr. Meadowcroft that the ultimate cabinet committee for sustainable development is the cabinet. It's chaired by the Prime Minister, and that's where you integrate all of the economic, social, and environmental issues. I simply don't think it's a good idea for Parliam

Environment committee  Would you like me to respond? First of all, Mr. Bigras, I don't know whether there are countries where such a legal obligation now exists. Also, I completely agree with you that a legal obligation carries a lot more weight. Finally, I agree with my colleague, Mr. Meadowcroft, wh

Environment committee  The goal is what you and my colleagues have referred to: integration. The more tax and environmental measures there are, and the better integrated those various tax and environmental measures are, the greater our opportunity to make the decisions that you described in your remark

Environment committee  Mr. Chair and Mr. Cullen, I would say the first is that it's been hard to close the gap between aspiration and reality. As you say, there is that gap. Everybody believes in doing the right thing; I think every government does, and they commit themselves to doing the right thing g

Environment committee  I would say that I don't think successive governments have yet managed to get Canadians to understand the magnitude of the changes that will be required, as my colleagues have just said. You're looking at very significant changes in how our economy works and how our society works

Environment committee  In all seriousness, I think the larger challenge is the public and political one. It's much easier to find mechanisms when you can make progress on the broader public issue.

Environment committee  Yes, I think that's the biggest part of the gap. It's the major reason we haven't done more. A much less important reason, in my view, is finding the precise mechanism to do it. I realize this sounds like witnesses telling politicians that it's the fault of politicians, and I don

Environment committee  Mr. Cullen, I don't want to suggest that politicians have entirely failed or that you can't look to politicians for big solutions, because I believe you can. But I think that a bill, whether this one or another one, that tries to get inside government by calling on it to do this

Environment committee  To give a quick answer, Mr. Cullen, I believe the officials are doing what the government wants them to do, as a general rule, with the exception of very particular cases that you would have seen or that one could talk about. As a general rule, when officials find savings, it's b

Environment committee  Well, the government doesn't want them to find the solution you're looking for.

Environment committee  I'm here as an individual, sir.