Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To Mr. Sopuck's comments, I could mention that there's a major stream in my riding of Fleetwood—Port Kells in Surrey. Its headwaters are in the parking lot of the Guildford shopping centre. It happens.
Ms. Venton, in another committee, we are studying the Navigation Protection Act. I hate to the cloud the thought you had about citizen action in court, but that has been available through provisions of a part of the act since the changes were made, and not one court action has taken place, simply because it is too onerous for people to proceed in that fashion.
I wanted to basically throw out a question to everybody, though, and invite you to send us material and your reactions to it through the website.
I'll specifically ask Mr. Crocker and Taylor about this, because we're dealing with an issue of balance. A lot of the changes that were made were a result of a lot of input from rural municipalities in the Prairies who were concerned about the difficulties in getting public works done. Also, the farmers were having difficulties, as were mining operations, etc., which could be tied up for a very long time at very great expense by the regime that had been in place. One of the things we have been concerned about is trying to preserve what was good in those changes but to at the same time restore protections that a lot of people at least perceive are missing, if indeed they are.
My question is for both of you, and for everybody else to respond to off-line. What will be the essential elements of provisions that protect fish and protect habitat but that at the same time permit the public works, agriculture, and the commercial activities to operate within those protections? What are the essential elements that we need to effectively modernize the act, preserving the good part of what the Conservatives brought in, but restoring the parts that shouldn't have been taken out?