With all due respect, Mr. Woodworth, I think you may be talking about apples and oranges.
Attorneys General, of course, at the federal and provincial levels, in their respective areas of jurisdiction, have the right under the Criminal Code to intervene, to stay or take over a prosecution, but they do not have a similar absolute right to move in and stop the civil action. What this is doing is actually giving a heads-up to the Attorney General.
What they may do is within the full ambit of their powers and within the full ambit of the government to look into the matter subject to the court case that the litigants are considering bringing forward. It actually gives an opportunity to the Attorney General to intervene, to potentially initiate an action on their own, or to seek or to issue an environmental protection order. There could be all kinds of measures that come forward.
Again, it's a measure to give the government the opportunity, a heads-up, to step in and intervene. As my colleague pointed out, there are many, many cases across Canada where the department is stretched thin or where, for whatever reason, on the balancing of interests, it decides not to intervene or to bring suit or prosecute. It gives an opportunity for that community to seek recourse in the courts to have the impact remedied that is caused by a violation or an imminent violation of a critical environmental statute.