I'm glad the member has raised this question of the habitat having broader importance and significance. If you consider the canary in the coal mine example, if the fish aren't happy—I have always liked this picture on the front of our habitat policy, because the fish has a happy face—and healthy in their habitat, you can be assured we humans are not going to be happy or healthy.
There are increasing levels of contaminants, right to the level of endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, and birth control pills, that our sewage treatment plants can't deal with. Our water filtration and sewage treatment systems are costing us hundreds of millions of dollars. In many parts of Canada we'd like to just get back to natural filtration—to wetlands, for example—and not put effluent into some pit up in some hills, or back in the river, but put it into an area where its remaining nutrient value can be put to good use. We have to protect the habitat.
If I could quickly bootleg something, Mr. Anderson suggested that I'm not in favour of consolidating and unifying our ability, working with the provinces. He asked the other two witnesses, but not me. I am in favour of consolidation and restoring efficiency to the administration. If the Minister of Fisheries is not tough enough to bring common sense to the actions of his officials, then somebody else should be doing the job.
The Minister of Fisheries has to be front and centre in this whole environmental review process. If values like the habitat—and it's important to the water we drink—are at all going to be protected, then the federal Minister of Fisheries has to be there. In my time, when the provinces had their own jurisdiction over forestry, mining, and hydroelectric, we were told we should cop out. We were sued many times for the abdication of my fiduciary duty to protect the fishery.