Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here today.
I'm looking at the main estimates. The government has increased, by millions of dollars, an advertising campaign coming through Natural Resources, but where have they slashed? Well, the government has slashed $162 million from the clean energy fund. Over $60 million has been slashed from ecoENERGY for biofuels. They've slashed millions of dollars from the ecoENERGY renewable power initiative and have slashed millions of dollars from the ecoENERGY innovation initiative. I could go on and on, Minister Oliver.
When we look at all of the slashes in funding that went to renewable energy in the context of your own remarks, Mr. Minister, where you said that the impacts of climate change are exaggerated and cited some fictional scientists saying it wasn't so urgent, it tells a story to the Canadian public. Now that you've had a few days to reflect, I wonder if you could tell us, do you still feel that the impacts that are dramatic, the 2° rise in global temperatures are exaggerated and that we don't have to worry about it, that Canadians aren't concerned about it? Or do you now understand that a 2° rise has severe repercussions internationally and do you retract your remarks?