Environment committee  Well, we've heard a lot of it right here. We think this should be an efficient process as well. We don't think we should be holding up good projects because we have so many bad ones and we can't handle it. We agree that we need to have good, clean drinking water and good sewa

Environment committee  That's not what I said. Excuse me--

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  You could put regulations in place on how you approach that. I'm sure that assessment did not have a full-panel hearing and it did not take five years.

Environment committee  Absolutely.

Environment committee  I don't think that stage is the time for a political decision. The public should have a chance to have some input and reaction to a project before the minister decides not to have a hearing or that it's going to be divided into pieces. That's an unnecessary power that I think t

Environment committee  Well, I think that needs to be made by the agency, but subject to an appeal, if those who are affected believe it should go further. As long as there's a process in which you can talk about whether or not a screening or scoping or hearing is going to happen, then it would be acce

Environment committee  Yes, it should. We should be looking at how these things all fit together. The limitation of the system is that it works on one project at a time. If you look at the development in the tar sands, we've had several environmental assessments. None of them have actually looked acr

Environment committee  Absolutely. It has now been asked to take on the responsibility of several other departments. It's going to either need to import into its own operation the expertise those departments provided or it's going to have to hire consultants to supply it, so we have to invest in the ag

Environment committee  I think we could make improvements in how we deal with the small ones, but I don't think there's too much sweat. The small ones can be important as well as the big ones. We don't want to have a system in which we don't look at all at the small ones.

Environment committee  I'm not sure there was a question there.

Environment committee  When he said they are a waste of time and a rubber stamp, I think he was referring to the way the government has gone about doing it, failing to make sure those screenings are done properly. A lot of questions arise during screenings, and I've had a lot of people across the count

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  No, I'm not.

Environment committee  It probably should be reviewed, but it shouldn't be a significant burden or expense.