Thank you to our witnesses, both by video and in person. I appreciate the expertise you're all bringing to this. I appreciate the experience you have with CEPA as a regulatory regime.
I don't think any of us takes lightly the responsibility of engaging in this initiative. It obviously has major economic impacts as well as human health and environmental impacts, and we have to evaluate over the course of years what needs to be improved. Even if one accepts that the regime has performed well—and I think to a degree that is open to question—I think we need to look at how we can augment, or how we can clearly become global leaders in the field of chemicals management and toxics prevention or reduction.
I'd like to address my first question to the representatives from the Canadian Environmental Law Association. The issue of incorporating environmental justice principles into CEPA has been raised. I wonder if you could provide your thoughts on how that would best be done. There's this low-hanging fruit around preambular language and the purpose of the statute. In the context of a sophisticated regulatory regime where—and forgive the analogy or metaphor—there are many apples in the cart, I wonder how you incorporate that kind of notion.