I want to thank the witnesses for joining us.
I'd like both Mr. Aherne and Mr. Macnair to answer my question. I'll focus on the right to safe drinking water, which Mr. Macnair referred to in his remarks.
We know that the public authorities sometimes damage the integrity of water ecosystems, with complete impunity. I'll give you a few compelling examples. Naturally, I'm thinking of the dumping of toxic substances by the oil sands industry, the mining companies, which have dumping permits for 16 lakes in the country. I'm also thinking of the pest management regulatory agency, or PMRA, which advocates for an increase in pesticide use. After all, this does concern what we'll be eating. Other governments can only take so much action. They can't move forward if Canada doesn't get its act together.
Mr. Aherne and Mr. Macnair, do you think that Canada has the right legislative framework in place to protect the water environment?