Finance committee  First of all, Mr. Roy, thank you so much for acknowledging that we do need a transformation of our economy in our country. You're absolutely right. The sad reality is that we have not yet had a government willing to make the major changes that we need to make immediately. These

Finance committee  This research I'm referring to that has already been done is in terms of the importance of our national parks, national wildlife areas, and marine protected areas and which areas are of particular value. We actually had some discussion within the coalition about whether we have

Finance committee  You hit the nail on the head: it's a low priority for us in this budget. There are areas where you can get greater bang for your buck with your money this year.

Finance committee  I must admit I am not an expert on that agreement. The Green Budget Coalition is unique in bringing together all our groups, but we also agree only to agree on budget recommendations. We don't have distinct recommendations on international agreements like that.

Finance committee  My understanding is that there are still billions of dollars in infrastructure funding that have not been allocated to specific projects, so we leave it to the judgment of the government as to--

Finance committee  It's my understanding from the conversations I've had with Finance that not all of the infrastructure money has been allocated.

Finance committee  Mr. Weis is really the expert within the Green Budget Coalition, so I'll leave it at what he said.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable committee members. I'm here today on behalf of the Green Budget Coalition, which is unique in bringing together 20 of Canada's most respected conservation and environmental organizations, representing over 600,000 Canadians, including grou

Finance committee  We are very supportive of user-pricing mechanisms being put into place, and we would like to see all transfers to the provinces and to the municipalities made conditional on the achievement of environmental objectives and the implementation of user-pay means. We talked about rec

Finance committee  No, they're costed. What you have are the preliminary recommendations. I sent to your office the final recommendations. The nature recommendation is $1 billion over the next five years and $212 million per year over the subsequent years. The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence is

Finance committee  I can tell you that many of our member organizations were very pleased, if not jubilant, about the announcement. I think many people were working for many years towards this day. The Green Budget Coalition is a unique entity in that it brings together groups, virtually the hunte

Finance committee  We make recommendations for the budget and for integrating environmental values into fiscal policy. That's pretty clearly what we do.

Finance committee  We really have recommendations only for the federal government. We would love to see money put into water infrastructure and waste water infrastructure. As you mentioned, that's one of our key areas, and we're suggesting that it be matched by the municipalities and the provinces.

Finance committee  I'm a little familiar with it, but not in detail.

Finance committee  Amy probably knows more about this than I do, but I'm sure he was talking about the carbon stock market that may be set up in Montreal. The leader from le groupe Cascades was promoting it and he was encouraged that someone from industry was concerned about environmental issues