I'd like to call to order meeting number 12 of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.
I will remind committee members of the mandate of the study we're embarking on:
That the committee undertake a ten (10) meeting study on the Water quality of the Great Lakes Basin. This study will focus on three (3) areas: (a) identifying locations within the Great Lakes Basin that are of environmental concern and the prioritization of these areas to be addressed; (b) reviewing the efforts that are planned and/or currently underway to remediate the identifiable areas of environmental concern; and (c) recommending best practices that will facilitate the further remediation of areas of environmental concern within the Great Lakes Basin.
Some of us at this table are old enough to remember some of the concerns of the 1960s within the Great Lakes and have seen some significant improvement since that time, and we're happy about that, but we all know as well that we can continue to move forward on helping to increase that water quality to a greater degree.
We're happy to have with us witnesses from the Department of the Environment: Chris Forbes, assistant deputy minister; Michael Goffin, regional director general; and Patricia Chamber, section head of watershed stressors and nutrients, science and technology branch.
I understand, Mr. Forbes, you have an opening statement, so we welcome you to proceed with that at this point.