Thank you, Chair.
Minister, you've spoken a lot about RADARSAT today and in question period. As you have probably read in the last couple of days, it appears that the Government of Alberta will be weakening its wetlands policy in order to accommodate the oil sands industry. You probably also know that the mapping of wetlands in Alberta goes back to the year 2000. It's not a dynamic mapping. In other words, you can't really project trends and so on in a wetland area.
Up until your government took power, Ducks Unlimited was working with Environment Canada and the Canadian Space Agency to create a Canadian wetlands inventory. Yet funding from Environment Canada dried up for that project so that it never got beyond phase one.
You've spoken a lot about biodiversity and how much it means to the government, but in actual fact the government is putting the brakes on any effort to create a national wetlands inventory, which is extremely important if we want to preserve our wetlands. I think we're the country with the greatest area of wetlands in the world. So I'd like to know if you're planning to renew that funding in your budget so that the Canadian wetlands inventory can proceed.
My second question has to do with carbon capture and storage. There could be some implications of carbon capture and storage for saline aquifers. Is Environment Canada doing any research on that? Are Environment Canada scientists allowed to do research on that?
Third, you said in your statement--and it was in the budget--that you'll be investing $8 million in Great Lakes cleanup, but the Obama administration is going to be spending almost $500 million. What accounts for the difference?
Also, there's nothing in the budget that I can see about the St. Lawrence action plan. So is there going to be any investment in extending the St. Lawrence action plan, or are we just going to concentrate $8 million on the Great Lakes?