Evidence of meeting #6 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cepa.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
We share assessments, but we have no involvement in how they regulate the use of pesticides.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Yet you're the health department. The exposure of these pesticides to the environment and to human health is in your jurisdiction.
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
That's looked at through the pesticide management regulatory agency.
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
We do look at pesticides in terms of exposure to drinking water.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Are there any concerns, then, with these conditional approvals?
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
Not that I am aware of, no.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Okay. Only, it seems passing strange, because some of the things that are being conditionally approved have been known to have negative health effects on humans and the environment, and often it's through the water table that those are released.
Why is that not a concern for Health Canada?
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
Because any pesticide that receives a conditional approval or an approval and is potentially in exposure through drinking water is added to our list of priorities for assessment separately. We do develop guides for pesticides.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Let's move over to air quality, which you deal with. Am I right?
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
That's right.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Do you have the power to bring in restrictions on CO2 release? Is CO2 listed as a toxic in your schedules?
Acting Director General, Safe Environments Directorate, Department of Health
It's listed under the GHGs as a toxic. Health Canada focuses on air quality, air pollutants, and critical air contaminants, GHGs to some extent where there are actions taken on GHGs, where there are cost benefits or co-benefits associated with—
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Kitimat, British Columbia, has elevated CO2 levels. They're actually maxing out their airshed right now. The province has been waiting on the federal government, who has the enforcement powers to limit the emissions of SO2 into the environment.
Kitimat has a 60% higher respiratory illness rate than anywhere else in the province. Why haven't you done anything about this yet?
Director General, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Department of the Environment
I don't think we can answer questions about why the government has not.... You'd have to ask the minister that.
Liberal
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
On a point of order, Madam Chair, there was a very specific question asked at the very beginning, which had to do with the 31 recommendations coming out of the 2006-07 report. There was quite a bald statement made by Mr. Amos that none of those recommendations had been addressed. I believe that Mr. Moffet was in the process of responding to that. Perhaps he could finish.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
He said that he's going to give us a summary on that and he's going to give us that information, so I think that we've had the answer on that. We'll be getting the answer sent to us after this meeting.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Chair, if I may, just to understand the limits of what we can ask, from what the official just responded to, the government's choosing to act on a certain provision or not choosing to act on a certain provision is within the purview of testimony.
If we can't ask questions about why the government enforced on this occasion and not on that occasion, and we have to wait for a political response to each of those questions, that would make the review of CEPA with government officials nearly impossible, both to the benefit of the review of CEPA and to members' understanding of what's happening.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
I have been trying to figure out whether we're in the right line of questioning or not, so let me just read this from O'Brien and Bosc, so that it's very clear for everybody:
Particular attention is paid to the questioning of public servants. The obligation of a witness to answer all questions put by the committee must be balanced against the role that public servants play in providing confidential advice to their Ministers. The role of the public servant has traditionally been viewed in relation to implementing and administering government policy, rather than the determination of what that policy should be. Consequently, public servants have been excused from commenting on the policy decisions made by the government.
That's why we've been.... We're kind of balancing on the head of a pin here.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
As we always are. I have great respect for the role that public administration has to play in enacting government policy, but you just referred to the implementation and administration of government policy. The line of questioning that I had was around the emission of SO2 with respect to human health. There is a policy and there is the question of the administration of that policy. I don't know how that steps out of bounds.
If I can't ask that, it makes the point of having public servants in front of us very difficult to—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
I think we're going to have a discussion, because I do believe the questioning was appropriate when you talk about the implementation and administration, and that's where you were with it, but let's—