Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Allow me to thank you and the other members of this committee for the opportunity to speak on this issue, the Kyoto Protocol and Canada's position and profile within the international climate change community. First allow me to directly address the question

Environment committee  My apologies. I have the last sentence here.

Environment committee  Okay. Ultimately, successfully addressing this grave and present threat means an evolution in understanding what national interests truly signify: acting responsibly for the sake of the environment and our children. I believe Canadians are ready and impatient to face the challe

Environment committee  We'd just come off two large successes in the environmental field, particularly on acid rain. Through a very innovative emissions trading program out of the Environmental Protection Agency, costs were less than 10% of what was originally estimated. Secondly, there was the ozone t

Environment committee  What I would say is that in the domestic context, I think we need a strong suite of policy measures and a clear regulatory framework for industry. Secondly would be fiscal measures. I think in that sense what the Quebec government has done with its so-called carbon levy is partic

Environment committee  On the first question, in terms of anything that would be perceptible, let me be as concrete as possible. I think the two most important initiatives that you could do from a capital investment perspective are carbon capture and storage and sending up the signals on that as quickl

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Allow me to thank you and the other members of this committee for the opportunity to speak to you today on this critical issue. I will focus my comments on relevant international aspects, including the lessons Canada might want to consider from

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I think it's perfectly within the government's mandate to decide exactly what kind of actions it feels are the most effective in meeting the targets we have committed to. I don't want to get into the business of saying that the government should or should not get into the busines

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Yes. Mr. Delbeke could probably deal with this as well. By no means am I a technical expert on this, but I think the biggest problem is simply “truing up”. When you're doing an intensity-based system, you basically have to make an estimate at the beginning of the year of how ma

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  First of all, it sends a signal. While we're getting a signal about Canada having difficulty reaching its target, which is a very legitimate point, and Canada will be having a lot of challenges in meeting its target, there are protestations that it's only the target we're not tal

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  No, and there was a deadline for January 1 for doing that. One of the examples was to what extent are we going to use our managed forests as part of our inventory. There's a real issue on this in a country like Canada. Because our forests are so vast, like Russia's, we have to de

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  There were two reports due that we're now tardy on, as I understand it. The first one was the fourth national communication. Every few years, we are to provide a national communication that basically provides an update on our national circumstances, our emissions trajectory, and

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I'm just saying that's the formal mechanism by which these sorts of things are communicated. I know that figures have been bandied about. The Prime Minister made a presentation a few days ago about how far out we are from our target. We need to fill that formal obligation of prov

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Yes, absolutely, we have pretty accurate knowledge of that as of the 2005 emissions.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I'm not sure if anything is actually in place now. I am very well aware—as probably all of you are as well—of Alberta's intent to submit a regulatory framework that would be an intensity-based or -driven system, so we'll have to see exactly how that comes out. As far as integrat