Environment committee  Sure. Thanks, Mark. It's interesting that Nichole mentioned John Sinclair. John Sinclair and I wrote an article together following our engagement with the Emera Brunswick pipeline substitution process a number of years ago. I would say, from all of the little things that we drew from that, meaningful public participation is when members of the public who do seek to participate in a process feel that they've been heard and have had the opportunity not just to hear what the project is about but to actually influence the direction that it might take.

Environment committee  Sure. Thank you for the opportunity. Clearly, the petroleum boards play an enormous role in the regulation of offshore oil and gas exploration and activity off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. We wouldn't see that changing. This is really about how those projects that are on the list of designated projects or activities would be assessed.

Environment committee  Do you mean the challenges in terms of the development of the offshore?

Environment committee  I'll ask Mr. Butler to comment as well, but we will see, for many of the designated activities.... Again, we don't know what the designated activities will be, so this is a bit of an open question. I think particularly relevant when it comes to the offshore is that we don't know if exploratory drilling will be included.

Environment committee  Thank you. Good morning, Chair and committee members. Thank you for agreeing to hear from us today. I'm with the East Coast Environmental Law association, an environmental law charity based in Halifax. We work throughout Atlantic Canada, providing environmental law information, advice, and support.