The answer is yes. I will continue in English.
In two areas, Hydro-Québec's dissent dealt with both the criminal law power and the POGG power we talked about today. One of the things the dissenting judges made clear--because they didn't agree with upholding CEPA under the criminal power--is that the problem needed to be defined in more narrow terms. Their problem with CEPA was that it defined the term “toxic substance” so broadly that it could include almost any substance you could think of. That was their biggest problem with the act. By contrast, if you define the term “greenhouse gases” in here, you would be limiting it to six substances. Their point was that the way “toxic” was defined in CEPA, it could include thousands and thousands of substances.
So their biggest concern about criminal law power could be dealt with by simply limiting the scope of substances to be dealt with here.
In terms of peace, order, and good government, obviously this isn't the time or place to have a full constitutional debate. The minority said that CEPA was too broad to be upheld under the peace, order, and good government power, but then they gave a road map to the kinds of things that could be redrafted that would make them think it was within the peace, order, and good government power. They said if it were limited, for example, on the basis of the severity of the harmful effect a substance would have.... Well, greenhouse gases are known to have a pretty severe harmful effect. Then they said, “Or if it were limited on the basis of their extra-provincial impacts....” Again, greenhouse gases are the poster child of a substance that has extra-provincial impacts. Everything we put up into the atmosphere has an equal effect around the whole planet.
So without wanting to wade into all the minutiae of it, under the peace, order, and good government power, were you to clarify that greenhouse gases have an international and interprovincial impact, that would certainly help the argument.