Environment committee  I share the frustration of the environmental movement in this area in terms of the time this process has taken, but I think it's very difficult for parliamentarians to solve administrative issues, and it's the administrative application of the legislation that is at issue here. Does the government have the resources and the ability to go through that huge process that is required by law?

Environment committee  I wonder if Gordon, who is actually a lawyer, could respond to that, as my constitutional knowledge is not great.

Environment committee  I guess I would leave that to the government to determine. You know, I'm not a lawyer. The point is, what is the power in the word? Doesn't action speak louder than words? The common sense, to me, is not putting a label on something but getting action. The label has no value to anyone.

Environment committee  It's an interesting question. Probably at this point, there are no costs that could be measured, except for the fact that the onus is now on our industry to come to committee and deal with this issue on an ongoing basis, and to communicate with the public on an ongoing basis, when issues like organic foods are raised, and so on.

Environment committee  I'm Clyde Graham, vice-president of strategy and alliances for the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting us here today to talk about toxic stigma. Canada's fertilizer industry contributes about $6 billion annually to the Canadian economy and employs about 12,000 Canadians.