Okay, thank you.
I just wanted to reiterate again the purpose and intent of this provision. Again, it is to clarify the protection of the rights and opportunities for employees to assert their responsibilities in relation to environmental protection, and that would include participating in environmental decision-making; to implement any law, policy, act or regulation; to proceed to apply for an investigation; to seek the enforcement of an act, which could be an investigation, an inspection, issuing a warning, environmental protection measure, initiate a delay in information; and to also provide information and to testify in proceedings.
Regrettably, similar measures have become necessary to include—for example, the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights includes those provisions—because there have been circumstances where environmental officials have been stifled in the delivery of their responsibilities. This is intended to say clearly that it is their right to exercise their responsibilities under those statutes and their right to seek recourse to the appropriate authorities where they are given an inappropriate reprisal.