Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many

people know, in this era of global warming and an increased personal responsibility for the environment, many people are now purchasing carbon offset credits to offset their personal lifestyle activities that create greenhouse gas emissions. These people in their own way want to be carbon neutral. For example, when a person travels on a jet, the use of the fuel generates carbon-based emissions. A person can neutralize or offset these emissions by purchasing credits through a specially designated or regulated agency. This agency allocates the purchased funds to support renewable and energy efficient programs. As an example, these funds support the establishment of wind

farms in India and Madagascar and micro-hydro plants in Indonesia. The goal in purchasing offsets is to prevent the equal amount of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. The agency sponsors projects which contribute positively to the reduction of greenhouse gases. These projects are evidently closely monitored. The most carefully scrutinized offsetting projects with the highest standards are called gold standard. People can access credits, Mr. Speaker, through the Arctic Energy Alliance and they can use their portal called the Carbon Neutral North. This will allow a person to direct their contribution to developing countries on specific projects. The only concern I have and the concern that many others have is supporting global projects that are not within our country of Canada. Mr. Speaker, this is a concern of many. I think that when people want to make an environmentally conscious effort to reduce their carbon footprint on their own, we should be encouraging them to purchase carbon offset credits that go to projects here in the North. There is nothing stopping this government from creating a program that could do such a thing here in the North. If anything, we would become more attractive for those trying to do their part to put their efforts and money behind northern activities and support local projects when we talk about things like hydro development in the North. It is time for us to move forward in developing a gold standard northern project here for a reality for our citizens to contribute to. I would like to know from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources as to what he can do on this initiative to create such a leadership role on this project in Canada. It is only our imagination that’s stopping us from following through on this. We can lead Canada by creating a gold standard project here in the North that people can contribute to help offset carbon emissions.