Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for your testimony.
Listening to what you had to say, I think we can all agree that the government has a role to play and has a large obligation through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to ensure that Canadians and their environment are properly protected from the harmful effects of toxic substances.
We have discussed the three main topics of information requirement, disclosure, and burden of proof.
The first question I have is to the directors general of the Department of Health and the Department of the Environment. It's my understanding that through the domestic substance list some 23,000 substances have been analyzed over the last seven years. Is that correct? And what has the cost been to the federal government to analyze those 23,000 substances?