Finance committee  As a lawyer, I'm probably not the best person to speak on that.

Finance committee  I think it's a principle that's being widely endorsed in the legal system throughout much of the world.

Finance committee  It's our understanding that the number of prosecutions leading to conviction is very low, meaning that under CEPA in recent years I saw a number of around 20. I can't pinpoint the year, but that gives a sense of the number. One would expect more than that. They may be settling

Finance committee  Certainly, fines go back to the crown, so there's no disincentive to offsetting the cost of the prosecution by collecting the fine at the end of the day, and sometimes costs can be awarded in certain settings.

Finance committee  Without getting into politics too much, it doesn't sound as though a cut like that enhances capacity.

Finance committee  I don't have the answer on that number. It is higher than in Canada, but there has been debate in the U.S. to take it all the way up to unlimited liability. Obviously, with a $40-billion tab, there became a heightened interest in that issue. As far as I understand it, amongst the

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Just following up from before, I do have $75 million as the cap in the U.S. I didn't want to misspeak without seeing it written here....

Finance committee  I'll wrap it up. On that issue, we're not necessarily suggesting that there be no cap on the liability. Obviously, a balance probably ought to be struck. Again, I'm not an economist, but right now it simply does not make sense to have a $40-million cap. How this ties back to t

Finance committee  Thank you for inviting Ecojustice to this committee meeting. Ecojustice is a group of lawyers in Canada who have been in practice for 20 years with an objective of seeking a healthy environment, using the law as a tool to achieving that. You may wonder what a lawyer has to tell