Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In 1995 the Liberals did a good thing. They created the environmental damages fund. What our provision intends to do is to enhance and broaden the effectiveness of that environmental damages fund. As an example, in 2005 the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, was amended to do exactly what we're trying to do here across the board; that is, to direct that all penalties under that act should be paid to the environmental damages fund. Before that amendment came into effect, over 10 years before that, there was only one award of $5,000 made to the EDF. Since that amendment came into effect four years ago, there have been 11 awards totalling over $90,000 directed to the EDF. These have resulted in nine projects across Canada.
What we want to do is take that success story from the Migratory Birds Convention Act and apply it across all the environmental statutes we're amending here today. I would very much hate to see that good and noble effort diluted by suggesting that instead of going to the environmental damages fund, these moneys should be going into private prosecutions.
So I'm opposed. Thank you.