Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as someone who has worked with clean energy technology and as someone who works in a province and in a country where our energy sector provides hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of funding for social programs, I cannot accept my colleague's criticism of our country as not being an international leader in environmental stewardship.

Business of Supply  The reality is that Canada emits only 2% of the world's total emissions. That is why we need to work hard to get the 98% covered by a new agreement. Kyoto does not do that, never did that and cannot do that in the future. We need a new agreement that is fair, effective and applies to all major emitters to see real change.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today on a very important issue. I am going to start by talking about Canada's role in this. It has been deeply disappointing to me as a young Canadian to hear the opposition parties denigrate our country and our reputation in this area. It is false to say that, because we are taking tangible action at home, we are not leaders.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, once again, let us talk about action. My colleague opposite spoke about a legacy for our children. This weekend, in the NDP leadership debates, the candidates spoke about a carbon tax. Once again, the NDP has brought forth an economic policy that was not costed and not thought through with regard to long-term economic legitimacy or a legacy for our children.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am glad my colleague mentioned one thing that is key to this entire debate, and that is real action on climate change and Canada's actual leadership, being a leader in climate change mitigation and climate change strategy. As someone who has worked with clean energy technologies for numerous years, I find it deeply disappointing that my colleague is not recognizing Canada's role in being a leader in developing clean energy technologies which are shared around the world.

House debate  Madam Speaker, Environment Canada takes monitoring of the ozone quite seriously. That is why we have such a strong track record in doing so over the last decades. We have said over and over again in the House that we will continue to monitor the ozone, and that we will continue to deliver excellent services.

House debate  Madam Speaker, like my colleague opposite, I am very proud of the track record that Canada has with regard to excellence in monitoring the ozone. That is why we have repeatedly said in the House that our government, through Environment Canada, will continue to monitor the ozone.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, one thing is for sure. We do need to have leadership in the economy , and that is what this government stands for. We balance the economy with environmental protection. That balance is achievable and we have a plan to achieve that. That is why Canada has a very strong action plan that is focused on reducing our emissions by 17% of 2005 levels by 2020.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, let us talk about something that is cataclysmic: signing on to an international accord with no plans to implement it. That is what a Liberal government would do. Let us talk about its record. Under the Liberal government, Canada's carbon dioxide emissions rose between 1997 and 2005.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the colleague opposite to actually read the budget before voting against it. What is included in the budget is $252 million to support regulatory activities to address climate change and air quality. I could go through the list of the hundreds of millions of dollars that we have prudently invested to take care of Canada's environment, a record of which we are proud.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I am glad my colleague opposite has acknowledged a fundamental point. We need to balance our environment and the economy and this is what we are doing. This is a principle that the opposition would gladly throw to the wind when it denigrates our oil sands sector. Our government's sector-by-sector approach, which is being developed by a robust consultation process, is designed to meet a tangible target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, while being cognizant of Canada's economic growth.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, $40 million for Sustainable Development Technology Canada was included in this year's budget. Again, our government is committed to clean energy and the New Democrats keep voting against measures to support it.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, instead of talking about intentions, let us talk about real action with regard to climate change: $250 million to support regulatory activities to address climate change and $86 million to support clean energy regulatory reforms. New Democrats voted against this.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, agreements that do not include major emitters like China and the United States will not work. That is why we remain committed to reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. We are making good progress through tangible action that we have taken here at home.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, as the Durban climate change conference begins, let us review the record of the NDP and Liberals on climate change policy. Under the Liberals, Canada's GHG emissions increased by 27%. Canada's carbon dioxide emissions rose between 1997 and 2005. They proposed a carbon tax, a tax on everything, which was rejected by Canadian voters.