Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First off, as I mentioned earlier, I want to reiterate how important the Great Lakes are for all Canadians. They supply nearly 35 million people with drinking water and account for some $4.4 billion economically speaking. That's huge.
We have received two letters on the issue. The first is from Fe de Leon, of the Canadian Environmental Law Association. In the letter, she indicates that she has spent more than 40 years working on issues related to the protection of the Great Lakes ecosystem and that she wishes to appear before the committee. We, the NDP, consider her to be a key witness who the committee should give priority to.
Nancy Goucher, a water program manager, is another person who would like to speak to the committee. She is going to send the committee a letter, and we think her request should be given priority.
We feel the committee should make hearing from both of those organizations a top priority. And we also want to point out how important it is that the committee hear from all stakeholders, municipalities as well as environmental groups. These groups have spent years examining these issues and are backed by very important scientists.