Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  There are two things that I think matter here. The first one is, do we want to act on this problem? The second thing is, what mechanisms do we want to employ to act on the problem?

Environment committee  If there is an international trading of some form or another, yes, of course there will be.

Environment committee  I don't know of any, and that's part of the issue of credibility, but then it may be that I'm not exactly up to date on what all other countries are proposing to do. But I would be remiss not to say that I think we need to act on greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Canada. We

Environment committee  There are two aspects here. First of all, the problem of climate change that we are facing is global and worldwide. Whatever action Canada takes, regardless of what all other countries do, will have essentially no effect on the problem itself. Canada produces about 2% of greenhou

Environment committee  That is probably about right. I won't question that.

Environment committee  It depends on the measure of intensity and the assumptions you make about GDP growth. We're not going to get into a numbers game, but the notion that it requires a bigger effort than what has been delivered in the past is something that I am comfortable with.

Environment committee  The 2050 targets, for example, are in keeping with what a number of countries have suggested they are going to do. They are broadly consistent with what the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. have been talking about for some time. The issue is the transition to the longer term.

Environment committee  If permits are auctioned, there is no problem because everyone can buy them anywhere, but if policies target certain industries or sectors and those sectors are granted a certain proportion of the permits, we will have to determine the emissions level by industry and grant a cert

Environment committee  I agree with what Professor Dissou has said about setting this up. In a sense, you don't need exactly the same targets to reduce uncertainty. To reduce uncertainty you need to have a target that's credible--and you're going to get there. That will reduce uncertainty. The issue a

Environment committee  Yes, and I have said so before in committees--not in this chamber, but in others.

Environment committee  Of course, the less waste you produce the more productive you are, but that's true across all factors of production, not just one in particular. You could become more efficient, if you want, in using one factor, but at the cost of becoming less efficient in the mix of factors for

Environment committee  Sure. I think we would be spending less on energy, but that doesn't mean that overall we'd be more productive.

Environment committee  Not necessarily lower cost, either, in part because to substitute for this energy you'd have to do something else. So now it becomes a case of whether this something else you're doing is actually “cheaper” than using the energy.

Environment committee  Indeed, the transaction costs would be much lower if we had compatible systems. However, because we have a system of tradable permits, we will have to decide at some point how many permits we will issue, even if we have intensity targets. One way or another, if we opt for a trada