Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm here, as the committee members will remember, due to a motion passed by this committee that deprives me of my rights at report stage by offering the opportunity to appear before the committee. Not to put too fine a point on it, that was something I found to be less than satisfactory, but I comply with your motion.
The first amendment that I'm presenting today is in relation to the definition of “ground disturbance”. The committee will recall evidence from those involved, particularly Union des producteurs agricoles, that the cultivation of less than 45 centimetres below the surface of the ground could impede the planting of alfalfa which has occurred over quite a long period of time. Their belief is that they did not have a problem with the presence of pipelines in areas where they were cultivating alfalfa to depths of more than 45 centimetres. So they believe this proposed paragraph should be deleted from this legislation to avoid unnecessary conflict between agricultural producers and the pipelines as now defined as a “ground disturbance” under the definition section found at page 2.
I hope that's clear.