Mr. Rick Norlock (Northumberland—Quinte West, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy of the opposition on the Kyoto protocol is appalling. This plan of the previous government will cost billions of dollars, yet accomplish nothing. The truth is the Liberals' $12 billion plan to implement Kyoto over seven years would have been largely ineffective says an unpublished report by the C.D. Howe Institute. “This policy approach will fail dramatically to meet national objectives and yet will entail a substantial cost” says the report.

    Even the Liberals' own member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore is quoted as saying: “We think Kyoto has been an asset for us. It's actually been a huge political liability” and that the “party has got into a mess on the environment and as a practical matter of politics, nobody knows what (Kyoto) is or what it commits us to”.

    The Liberal plan for Kyoto is actually no plan at all. Today I challenge the opposition to work closely with the government and the Minister of the Environment to do what is right and best for Canada.