Thank you, Madam Chair.
First I have a comment. In the fisheries and oceans committee, I became familiar with the term “the precautionary principle”, which applies particularly to some of our salmon runs, etc. Basically, if there's a doubt, we protect. The NPA appears to have taken exactly the opposite approach: it's out by default unless there's a good reason to have it in. That's a disconnect that maybe as a group we can be thinking about when it comes time to look at potential changes to the act.
For something to be put on the list of protected rivers, lakes, and streams, basically an assessment is done on the basis of the commercial, recreational, and indigenous activities. Are there factors beyond those three that could have been included and that we could now examine as one way of filtering out which rivers, lakes, and streams should be protected?
If you don't have an answer right now, I'd ask that you get back to us with any thoughts on that.