APPENDIX E

Parliamentary Interest in Climate Change

Parliament has demonstrated a long-standing interest in the climate change issue and meeting Canada's climate change commitments. In 1989, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment launched its "Our Changing Atmosphere" series of studies that dealt with climate change, among other things. The Committee issued two reports on climate change as a result of its study. Below is a list of these and other parliamentary committee reports that have dealt with the climate change issue, together with some selected highlights.

In addition to these parliamentary committee reports, the subject of climate change has been raised in the House of Commons and in the Senate, most recently in the fall of 1997 in connection with the Kyoto Conference.

Parliamentary Committee Interest in Climate Change
Committee/Report

Selected highlights

October 1990 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment, interim report titled "No Time to Lose: the Challenge of Global Warming" in its Our Changing Atmosphere series

  • contained 17 recommendations that address climate change issues
    • March 1991 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment, final report titled "Out of Balance: the Risks of Irreversible Climate Change" in its Our Changing Atmosphere series

  • noted that climate change represents a severe threat to both Canada and the planet as a whole
  • called for action to be taken now, not in 3 to 5 years from now, to substantially reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions
  • called for stronger and more visible national leadership on climate change
  • contained the 17 recommendations referred to in the Interim Report
  • suggested that Canada's support of the objective of stabilizing carbon dioxide emissions at 1990 levels by 2000 was not sufficient, and that well before 2000 this target should be revised
    • February 1992 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Energy, Mines and Resources, report titled "Sustainable Energy and Mineral Development: A Realistic Response to the Environmental Challenges", An Interim Report on the Issue of Global Climate Change

  • made 4 recommendations that addressed climate change, including the need for a detailed action plan and the need to identify the potential costs and benefits of alternative strategies
    • January 1993 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Energy, Mines and Resources, report titled "Sustainable Energy and Mineral Development: A Realistic Response to the Environmental Challenges"

  • made 31 recommendations related to sustainable energy and mineral development, including 4 recommendations specifically related to greenhouse gas emissions that addressed climate change
    • January 1993 - Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, report titled "The Energy Emissions Crisis: A Viable Alternative"

  • study on policy options for containing emissions associated with energy production and use in Canada, which included 7 recommendations
    • April 1993 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment, report titled "A Global Partnership"

  • made 9 recommendations related to mechanisms that the federal government might initiate to achieve Canada's stabilization goal
    • June 1995 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, report titled "It's About Our Health! Towards Pollution Prevention, CEPA ( Canadian Environmental Protection Act ) Revisited"

  • strongly recommended, among other things, that the federal government meet its international climate change commitment and that it use, where appropriate to do so, Part V of CEPA, which includes general enabling provisions for the implementation of international air pollution obligations
    • December 1995 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, report titled "Keeping a Promise: Towards a Sustainable Budget"

  • provided recommendations related to federal fiscal disincentives to sound environmental practices; many of the recommendations relate to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
    • November 1997 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Government Operations, report titled "The Kyoto Conference on Climate Change: Let's Get The Ball Rolling"

  • called for the federal government in co-operation with its partners to strive to achieve a revised stabilization goal by 2010, while taking all possible measures to minimize any negative impact on Canada's economy and international competitiveness
  • called for precaution and prevention instead of waiting to react to a problem whose reversibility may be difficult to judge
    • December 1997 - House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, report titled "Kyoto and Beyond: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge"

  • expressed concern about the overall lack of progress made to date in meeting Canada's current commitment
  • offered a number of concrete suggestions for ways in which Canada's performance might be improved