ENVI Committee Meeting

37th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION

Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development

EVIDENCE

CONTENTS

Thursday, January 30, 2003

The Chair (Mr. Charles Caccia (Davenport, Lib.))

Mr. Roy Bailey (Souris—Moose Mountain, Canadian Alliance)

The Chair

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. John Herron (Fundy—Royal, PC)

The Chair

Mr. Gary Lunn (Saanich—Gulf Islands, Canadian Alliance)

The Chair

The Clerk of the Committee

Mr. Gary Lunn

The Chair

The Clerk

The Chair

The Clerk

The Chair

The Clerk

The Chair

The Clerk

Mr. Roy Bailey

The Chair

Mr. John Herron

The Chair

CANADA

EVIDENCE

Thursday, January 30, 2003

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

Á  (1105)  

[English]

    The Chair (Mr. Charles Caccia (Davenport, Lib.)): Good morning, colleagues.

    While Mr. Bailey is busy distributing a fantastic clipping on manure as a power source to save money, which is a remarkable article--he gave it to me earlier in the day--and certainly deserves to be taken notice of, I have a few announcements. I am taking the liberty also, as Mr. Bailey has done, of distributing a clipping that is close to my heart--and I ask for the indulgence on the part of those who don't share my views--a piece written by David Crane, “Canadian business myopic on climate change.”However, the content of the article is not that critical. It provides a number of examples of how business has done well by taking advantage of the goals prescribed by Kyoto.

    The next item I would like to announce is a book that is now available, entitled Tools for Environmental Management, by Dixon Thompson. He has been a professor at the University of Calgary for the past few decades. He is a great mountain climber, by the way. This is a collection of chapters by various authors. You may have friends who ask you sometimes what environmental management is all about, and you may want to bring his book to their attention.

    Mr. Bailey.

    Mr. Roy Bailey (Souris—Moose Mountain, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Chairman, I wonder if I could ask you and the clerk to find the speech made by a CEO, if not the president, of British Petroleum. It is a very large company. It is in exploration. He addressed the American Association of Petroleum, where he pointed out some of the things they have initiated there. I think that would be very interesting reading, because there weren't major changes, but the emissions dropped considerably, and we need to look at sharing these ideas.

Á  (1110)  

    The Chair: Do you remember the month?

    Mr. Roy Bailey: It was probably in November.

    The Chair: Was it in a magazine?

    Mr. Roy Bailey: No, it was on the radio. They were taking excerpts from the speech he made, and it was very good.

    The Chair: Was it on CBC radio?

    Mr. Roy Bailey: Yes, it was.

    The Chair: It was in November.

    Mr. Roy Bailey: I think it likely was November.

    The Chair: I'm sure the team loves to do that kind of thing.

    Mr. Roy Bailey: It was British Petroleum.

    The Chair: That's a very good suggestion, yes. We'll try to do that, the clerk is saying.

    Then there is a book by Robert Hunter, entitled 1941-2030: Confronting Thermageddon In Our Lifetime, which is available through the library. In it there is a chapter on the Arctic, and some of you are particularly interested in the Arctic. It demonstrates the reduction in the ice coverage and thickness in the Arctic region over the last 30 years. It has some very interesting statistical data, apart from the fact that the book is very valuable for anyone who wants to become familiar with a forward-looking examination of what might happen between now and 25 years from now.

    Next is a call for proposals by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which appeared before us for months and months. They are putting in place a new program to support research and development in the field of environmental assessment. The purpose is to help the federal government meet future challenges and improve the practice of environmental assessment. There is a due date for the submission of proposals, which is March 17 of this year. It may be of interest to some people you know who are engaged in this particular field.

    You see on the orders of the day an item we have to dispose of, namely the failure of the ministry to respond to a question by our colleague Peter MacKay, Q-91. That question was languishing somewhere in the PCO, I'm told. The reply has been written, so the answer is ready. It is expected that it will be tabled next week, I'm told. I'm looking particularly in the direction of Mr. Herron to see whether this is a satisfactory timeframe.

    Mr. John Herron (Fundy—Royal, PC): It's more satisfactory than not being answered next week, so if we're going to get an answer next week and if that commitment's going to be held to, I'm sure Mr. MacKay will be patient enough to handle that.

    The Chair: It's good to be charitable, I agree with you.

    Mr. Lunn.

    Mr. Gary Lunn (Saanich—Gulf Islands, Canadian Alliance): I'm just curious as to what the Standing Orders require? I'm asking because we have other ones that are following, and this is quite a new procedure under the Standing Orders. What do the procedures require?

    The Chair: Our clerk knows the answer, and perhaps he can read it.

    The Clerk of the Committee: There are various options. Here, for instance, where the question has been answered, we can study it, we can report back to the House. I have the Standing Order here and some of the options that have been laid out, if you'd like to read it.

    Mr. Gary Lunn: Sure. It's mostly out of curiosity.

    The Chair: No, it's a very legitimate question, very important.

    The Clerk: There are quite a few options available to the committee. We can bring officials before us if we wish.

Á  (1115)  

    The Chair: Oh please, don't, don't, don't.

    The Clerk: That's in the committee's hands, of course.

    The Chair: What is the time limit for a reply?

    The Clerk: It's 45 days.

    The Chair: It's 45 working days, is it, or calendar days?

    The Clerk: It's cited in the Standing Order. I think it's calendar days.

    Mr. Roy Bailey: Calendar days, I would think.

    The Chair: Mr. Herron, could you undertake to let us know next week if this matter has been resolved in a satisfactory manner?

    Mr. John Herron: I absolutely will.

    The Chair: Thank you. And perhaps the clerk can follow it up with the PCO today, so that we can move this.

    [Proceedings continue in camera]