We refer to that in our brief. The concept was developed by William Reese, a professor at the University of British Columbia. His theory is that it is possible to measure the land area needed to sustain a given population, Canada's, for example, and to partially assimilate the amount of waste it generates. Basically, there must always be somewhere to bury or convert waste. Then, you must calculate the area that you presently have in order to meet these needs.
In almost every country in the world, this footprint has been exceeded. In the Netherlands, for example, which is a very small country, it has been greatly exceeded. The factor varies according to the source you are reading. I have seen references to a factor of nine to nineteen times. So, a much greater area of productive land is needed to sustain a population like that of the Netherlands.
Because our land area is so vast and our population is quite small, Canada is one of the only countries in the world that has not reached this dangerous threshold.
What does passing the threshold, or living on too small an area, mean? It basically means that we are borrowing from what we should be leaving to our descendants. We are borrowing from our grandsons and granddaughters, our great-grandchildren and so on. We must keep checking our ecological footprint from year to year to see if it is getting bigger or smaller.
One of our recommendations is to urge everyone in Parliament to understand this principle and to read what Professor William Reese has written. His most recent document is a chapter taken from a book published in 1996. You will find the reference in our brief. I implore everyone to read that document.