Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is a very fast-paced meeting. Mr. Sopuck had some questions and comments I was very interested in. I find that the time has gone very quickly.
I want to mention that March 22—it was practically yesterday—was World Water Day. This international day declared by the UN aims to raise people's awareness of how important fresh water is. The protection of the Great Lakes is very important in our current study.
Before delving deeper into the study on the Great Lakes, I would like to point out that Canada doesn't have a national framework on water or a national water strategy. This is a shortcoming. If we had such a framework—and the NDP is favourable to Canada having one—we could see not only what is happening with the Great Lakes, but also what the situation is in terms of water protection in general.
This was a digression, and I will now come back to our topic of discussion. My first comment—and I am pleased that Mr. Murphy explained it well—is that it's a shame the legislation on fish habitat protection was amended. The legislation itself was not bad, but its application was problematic. It's too bad the Conservatives feel the need to scrap the whole thing, even though there was just one little problem to resolve. Now, unfortunately, all fish are no longer protected. Only certain types of fish are protected, but biodiversity cannot work in isolation. Everything is interrelated.
I am getting to my questions. I was interested in what all three of you had to say, especially when it comes to climate change, which I think is very important to take into consideration in a study of the Great Lakes. All of you talked about how important it was to adapt to climate change. Unless I am mistaken, Ms. Fox, you said that more data on climate change was needed. I think you also said that this data would not come from local authorities, but perhaps more from national authorities. Could you elaborate a bit further on what your needs are and what the federal government could provide you with to help fight climate change and adapt to it? What are your needs in that area?