Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a quote here from David Suzuki. The David Suzuki Foundation actually wrote a report—I politely listened to Mr. Cullen and the others, and I would ask for the same courtesy—and the article written was “The Air We Breathe”. It says: “There is strong evidence that air pollution is the most harmful environmental problem in Canada in terms of human health effects, causing thousands of deaths, millions of illnesses, billions of dollars in health care expenses, and tens of billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.”
I appreciate the witnesses from Health Canada being here, and that's the message that we heard from you today.
I found it quite interesting. I made a note on page 7 of the presentation. The paragraph in the middle of that page said: “On the basis of this science, applying targets to reduce air pollution emissions across the country make sense, since the health risk can be reduced wherever an air quality improvement can be achieved. The health payback is essentially immediate.”
I want to ask a question of the officials from Health Canada. How important is it to have a national air quality standard? We've heard proposals from the opposition that we provide regional standards. How important is it that we have a national air quality standard?