Mr. Speaker, first, funding for the Green Plan was extended at the request of the provinces, which asked for more time to clean up.
Second, two years ago we unanimously adopted the policy to put an end to orphan sites because of a request by the Province of Quebec, through its Minister of the Environment, Pierre Paradis, who, at the time, felt that creating a fund for orphan sites would enable companies to avoid their responsibilities-something environmental groups know very well.
We have paid and will continue to pay for the clean up of federal sites. This year, my colleague, the Minister of National Defence, has already paid out over $100 million for clean up. My colleague, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, has just paid out a significant sum. We have invested more than a quarter of a billion dollars in a sewer infrastructure program for the Vancouver area. These are joint programs with the provinces.
But we adopted our policy on orphan sites at the request of the Province of Quebec.