Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Mr. Minister.
With respect, simply putting in a regulatory regime will not guarantee adequate safe drinking water. In fact, the report of the expert panel on safe drinking water from November 2006 said:
First, and most critically, it is not credible to go forward with any regulatory regime without adequate capacity to satisfy the regulatory requirements. While it is tempting to assume that putting a regulatory regime in place would reduce the dangers associated with water systems, exactly the opposite might happen. This is because creating and enforcing a regulatory regime would take time, attention and money that might be better invested in systems, operators, management and governance.
Mr. Minister, I have three questions for you. The first question—and you've actually gone a long way to clarifying it—has to do with the self-governing first nations. I think you're well aware that subclause 14(1) of the bill is creating some concern, because that subclause did not restrict itself to groups for which there is a regulatory gap or groups that have developed their own laws.
Am I to understand that an amendment will be put forward to remove subclause 14(1) from the legislation?