Environment committee  Let me come to that now. From the way things are going, I think it is now inevitable that there will be a price on carbon, and there will be a North American market. I say that because we already see states and some Canadian provinces entering into carbon markets. It is the exper

Environment committee  Let me just try to be helpful. I am not an economist, but I know how important it is, as are many of the other social sciences. So I have read a lot about it. I have read what the IPCC said in its fourth assessment on the costs. I have read what Nicholas Stern said in his report

Environment committee  My feeling is that it is not ambitious enough but has been sufficient to change the tone of the negotiations on the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Environment committee  It depends where you look. There are three numbers at least.

Environment committee  What did not work with Kyoto was that we did not have the legislation in place that, for example, would cap emissions of the big emitters and allow them to enter the global carbon market. We didn't have the legislation that would allow us to achieve what we committed to under Kyo

Environment committee  Let me give a very short but more direct answer. We know we have done the calculations. They are in a recent report produced by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. They have analyzed what it would take for Canada to reach such ambitious targets, and the

Environment committee  You've noted that I made some statements that you regard as political.

Environment committee  But they are more personal. They're derived from having been engaged in this topic for 20 years and being convinced of the seriousness of it and the urgency of taking action. I think scientists do have a responsibility to warn. It's on that basis that I made my comments. If thi

Environment committee  Thank you. I'm afraid that I'm only going to be able to give you a partial solution, limited by my own expertise. I think you're right in your implication that Bill C-311, in itself, will not achieve what we want to achieve. But to my view it is an essential first ingredient, t

Environment committee  There is a basket of countries in the industrialized world.

Environment committee  The United States...but it depends how far back you actually go. If you go back to the Industrial Revolution times, the United States and United Kingdom certainly are among the top two. They're now being followed by some developing countries—for example, China and the like. I'm

Environment committee  I think it depends upon who you ask. President Obama has one, the House bill has one, and the Senate has one. These are different. They have yet to be resolved. In the view of many, they aren't ambitious enough. Certainly there has been an enormous sea change in Washington, and

Environment committee  This is a very personal opinion: I'm not encouraged. I have been following it very closely. You can do that without spending the jet fuel and going there. There is enough on the web. I feel for some of these people, because they've been in almost continuous negotiations now for

Environment committee  Thank you very much. There are lots of elements to your question, but let me take the last part. The current government's target, which as you say is a 20% reduction by 2020 based on 2006 levels, translates into roughly a 2% to 3% increase from 1990 levels. That is not even what

Environment committee  The question I ask myself is what is Canada going to say in Copenhagen? It would seem to me that if we're going to be taken seriously, we're going to have to say something, and that has to be developed ahead of that conference in Copenhagen. It seems to be a logical way of doin