Foreign Affairs committee  I think there are a lot of eyes on Canada. Everybody's been reading the debates, and there are a thousand opinions about what Canada should do. We all have our own opinions too, and our organizations do. Canada was the first chair of the Arctic Council. It's seen as one of the most important Arctic Council countries in that it was there at the foundation.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't really have an opinion on which is the best—

Foreign Affairs committee  I replaced a dirty oil furnace in my house with natural gas and saw immediate economic benefits and emissions benefits. I think that fossil fuels are on a continuum. There are some that are dirtier than others. With natural gas, at least the use of the fuel is less polluting than, say, oil or certainly coal.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't want to undervalue what is happening because indigenous voices are heard and there are a number of working groups and a number of the studies—the “Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment”, etc.—that have had important indigenous contributions.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are a number of things. The Government of Canada has funded the Canadian offices of the permanent participants for many years. I don't know what the state of that funding is these days. One of the things that the permanent participants, the indigenous peoples' organizations of the council, have always faced is not only financial but also, as David mentioned, a capacity issue: to have access to experts and resources and research they may in their small offices not have access to.

Foreign Affairs committee  I agree with David, but the thing to always be conscious of is that the indigenous peoples' organizations at the Arctic Council are not NGOs. They're not lobby groups. They represent people with sovereign rights, regardless of what the particular arrangements are in each country.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  My personal feeling is that the answer would be yes. Given the program that the Nordic countries implemented—and every two years there's a negotiation and a discussion amongst all of the Arctic Council countries, of course—some progress has been made that's useful to build upon.

Foreign Affairs committee  I want to add that when the Arctic Council was formed in 1996, nobody could imagine having this discussion or even that question. The world has changed much faster than the council has. In terms of jurisdiction, I obviously agree that Canada has a major responsibility in its own national waters.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would say that one way of looking at the Arctic Council observers is the more the merrier. Given the interests of China, Brazil, India, and other countries to be active in the Arctic—and, as we heard from Anita, some of these countries do have Arctic programs and Antarctic programs—having them in the room to be part of the discussion, I think, is important.

Foreign Affairs committee  I have to admit I don't have many thoughts on how to complete the combustion process. I think there are different ways to reduce black carbon. One example would be proper filtering for diesel engines. You can also redevelop diesel engines to be more energy efficient and to burn more cleanly and burn more of the byproducts.

Foreign Affairs committee  I had the opportunity to be involved in the assessment working for the indigenous peoples' organizations and was involved in the negotiations of the policy document that accompanied it, which I suspect nobody has read and nobody could find if they wanted to look for it. There are a couple of great successes of that climate impact assessment.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll defer to David on that one.

Foreign Affairs committee  Are you referring to pipeline construction, or...?

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that—