You see, I guess this is my question, going back to this particular piece of legislation. I see performance contracts and the like. I believe--and I'll be making petitions to this committee--that we need to strengthen that, because we have called department officials to task and account, and they come and wring their hands and they're properly sorry for what happened. Yet when we seek out accountability, as you would in the private sector, if money had been stolen or product lines had failed or what not, you would want to know who did it. Politicians come and go, but it seems to me that the civil servants have a great vested interest in making sure that this accountability loop to the commitments made by the politicians doesn't actually necessarily deviate.
I'll direct the questioning for a moment towards this, because much of the power is held and the direction is given to the Minister of the Environment under this piece of legislation. It's been my growing suspicion for a while now that as the ministry is constructed in the power dynamic that is Ottawa, it is one of the weak kids on the block, if you will. Is there a need for a higher order to be brought in? Is the Ministry of the Environment powerful enough to actually direct these other ministries to “thou shalt” and all the rest?