Environment committee  Thank you for that very important question. It calls for a brutally frank answer. Ms. Joseph spoke of the importance of the Canadian oil and gas and coal industry—coal less so, but oil and gas more so. That's the reason. Canada is a petro state. Canada exports fossil fuels. Foss

Environment committee  Currently it's not, but it can be made so. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Canada is about to finally adopt a climate law. It has never done so and I can bet you it's not going to do so again for a very long time. These things are meant to last. With these things, as Madame

Environment committee  Of course. I spoke briefly about Great Britain. I'll now say a few words about Germany, which has been in the news recently. It had a climate law for a number of years, and it included a specific target, as I was recommending with respect to Bill C-12. The law was struck down by

Environment committee  Absolutely. I mentioned earlier that the important thing was independence. If the commissioner were to become an officer of Parliament, it would definitely strengthen that independence. A little earlier, Ms. Paul mentioned the need to make the advisory body established in Bill C

Environment committee  I am definitely not against Bill C-12. As I said at the outset, it's a step in the right direction. But I feel, as do others here, that it's inadequate. It's not bad, but it simply needs to be enhanced and improved.

Environment committee  I believe that the required amendments are important enough for us to take the time to debate them. It would be a bad idea to forge ahead and adopt the bill too hastily. There really is a climate emergency. The United Kingdom passed a climate act in 2008. Canada is trailing behi

Environment committee  Exactly.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hello and thanks to everyone for giving me this opportunity to contribute to your work. I worked for the Government of Canada as a diplomat and senior official from 1980 to 2010. Among other things, I directed Environment Canada's Climate Change Bureau and

Environment committee  There's a policy recommendation or policy advisory function. Let's be quite clear. This is not policy decision-making. It's policy advice. Yes, I believe that policy advice could be provided and a policy implementation assessment function also carried out. As Mr. Lindgren indica

Environment committee  It would be done by the commissioner if it had to do with the environment and climate change.

Environment committee  I mentioned New Zealand. They have thought this through and I recommend that their experience be studied. They do integrate that combination of policy advisory and policy implementation assessment roles.

Environment committee  I will speak in French, if that's okay with you. The commissioner of the environment and climate change, as I recommend he be renamed, should have an autonomous and substantial budget that would enable him to have access to the scientific expertise needed under his mandate. He s

Environment committee  I fully agree with Mr. Lindgren. I would just point out that technically, article 15.1 of the Auditor General Act should be abrogated and replaced by this new, stand-alone legislation creating this new position—an independent officer of Parliament called the “commissioner for th

Environment committee  If I may start, I'm not counting on magic. I don't think it would magically happen. There would, obviously, need to be some exercise of political will to devote an adequate level of resources to the Auditor General for the Auditor General to carry out her important work and to th

Environment committee  I think the COVID crisis and the extraordinary government expenditures we have seen in the last year have shown us all that, where there is a will, there is a way.