I'm pleased that my colleague, Monsieur Bigras, raised the concern about the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. It's not very reassuring to see, in the estimates, a 100% cut. Of course that happened a year ago, and it is being evaluated. So I can just assure you that many, including me, will be watching and hoping that the minister will live up to his words that he lauds the role of scientists in addressing climate change and respects their work. We hope the funding will be restored.
Minister Prentice, two ministers back, reacted to seeing malformed fish and called for a monitoring report. That report is now among five or six reports calling on the federal government to step up to the plate and take action. We're anticipating that on the 22nd of this month, budget day, that report will also be released and will hopefully get the attention it deserves.
This is my question for the department. A number of reports, including mine based on our parliamentary committee review of the matter and the testimony of numerous witnesses, identify not only concerns with monitoring but the failure to do cumulative impact assessment of that sector on the region and downstream and upwind in the Northwest Territories, the failure to regulate significant toxins, the failure to provide leadership on implementing the Peace-Athabasca water management plan, and the failure to adequately assess and address potential impacts on the health of first nations. We've now learned that the Alberta government has increased its monitoring budget by only 4% for the entire province. So my question to you would be what can we expect in the way of major initiatives led by Environment Canada and its partner agencies to act on these deficiencies?