Mr. Speaker, let me say I agree with the hon. member that federal contaminated sites is an issue which must be taken seriously.
Like my colleague in the House, I concur with the auditor general's environmental representative, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, that there is a need for central leadership and a consistent framework to enable the federal government to address its contaminated sites.
To this end Environment Canada officials in co-operation with Treasury Board are currently working toward future options and will be advising the environment minister in the future. In addition I point out that we also agree with the auditor general's assessment that although a management framework is conspicuously absent progress has been made in dealing with the legacy of contaminated sites.
For example, we introduced a pollution prevention approach to environmental management right across the board to prevent further contamination. Over 4,000 federal sites have undergone some form of environmental assessment and 300 more are currently being assessed. To date over $130 million have been spent on the assessment and remediation of federal sites.
We have worked closely with other governments testing new technologies and developing management tools such as the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment national classification system. We have encouraged and supported the work of the interdepartmental committee dealing with federal contaminated sites and progress has been made by Environment Canada in addressing sites in its portfolio.
In addition to carrying out a comprehensive site inventory Environment Canada has completed phase 1 and phase 2 environmental site assessments at Environment Canada sites across the country. Clean up at two high priority sites has been concluded and remediation is under way at another four. Such work is integrated with Environment Canada's environment management system which underpins the department's sustainable development strategy.
I thank the member for her interest and encourage her to maintain a watchful eye on our progress. Improvements of this magnitude will not occur overnight. We are committed to developing a long term solution to what has been a long term problem. The minister will be happy to report back further.