Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be sharing my time with my colleague, Mr. Lussier.
Today, I want to focus on part 5 of the CEPA, with particular emphasis on section 71. Under the current legislation, if I understand correctly, both the public and the government are responsible for proving that a substance is dangerous. Subsection 71(1)(c) stipulates that the industry must carry out tests, but it is abundantly clear that this section has rarely or never been applied. The reports and submissions that I have received say that the government has rarely implemented these sections, and when it has, it did so on a voluntary basis.
We often talk about the effectiveness of the CEPA and say that the act's effectiveness correlates to the financial resources that are allocated to it. Do you not believe that the time has come to reverse the onus of proof so that the industry is forced to demonstrate that a substance is safe? From what I gather, the act does indeed contain requirements, but the government does not apply them.