Madam Speaker, I rise with pleasure to take part in the debate on Bill C-305, which proposes to establish a national registry of contaminated sites through amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
First, I commend the hon. member for Hamilton West on his ultimate goal to rejuvenate contaminated sites. I share his goal. I have a number of contaminated or brownfield sites in my riding of Etobicoke North. In 1999 I worked with a graduate student from the University of Toronto who developed a report entitled “Rexdale Brownfield Sites: A Framework for Understanding”. It dealt with a number of policy issues and alternatives. I submitted the report to city councillors, the provincial government, the Minister of the Environment and other stakeholder groups.
Ensuring that Canadians have a clean and healthy environment is an important goal for our government. For example, the recent Speech from the Throne notes that for Canadians, protecting the environment is not an option. It is something we must do.
In his reply to the Speech from the Throne, the Prime Minister stated that a safe, healthy environment is essential to the health of Canadians and to the future of our children. We will accelerate our efforts at home and internationally to foster a clean environment.
These contaminated sites or brownfields are a legacy of poor environmental practices in the past. Because of this terrible legacy we have shifted our thinking and our efforts toward preventing environmental damage before it occurs.
Our government strengthened the Canadian Environmental Protection Act so that it focused on pollution prevention. The Minister of the Environment recently introduced Bill C-19 to strengthen the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act so that future development projects do not cause environmental harm. In this context, it is necessary to look at Bill C-305 to determine if it would help us better achieve our environmental goals.
The bill proposes to do two things. First, it suggests that the current registry system in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act be altered so that any individual could report and therefore register contaminated sites in municipalities.
Second, Bill C-305 would enable the federal government to provide financial assistance for the environmental assessment of projects to remediate contaminated lands.
I would like to bring the House up to date on recent developments relevant to the hon. member's proposal.
The Minister of the Environment just completed an exhaustive and comprehensive review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. This review included the release of a discussion paper in December 1999 with options for improving the current law.
The public consultation phase of this review comprised 38 sessions in 19 cities across Canada. One day workshops were held in six major centres. The Internet was put to good use as a means to distribute information and solicit the views of Canadians. Over 200 written submissions were received. All told, the Minister of the Environment heard from a broad cross section of Canadians: environmental assessment practitioners, provincial governments, industry, environmental groups, communities, aboriginal people and individual Canadians.
One of the findings of the review was that the goal of facilitating public participation in environmental assessment has not been fully achieved. In particular, the current system of establishing a separate paper based registry for projects that undergo an environmental assessment has not worked.
I note that Bill C-305 is based on the same registry system concept.
On March 20 the Minister of the Environment tabled his report to parliament on the outcome of his review, entitled Strengthening Environmental Assessment for Canadians, and Bill C-19 proposes specific Amendments for Improving the current act.
Bill C-19 proposes to create a new Internet based government-wide registry of information about the environmental assessment of specific projects. As a result, Canadians will have easy access to information about projects in their communities and across the country.
Because it is based on the current act, the proposal in Bill C-305 does not really mesh with the amendments in Bill C-19, the amendments that require the establishment of a new modern registry that takes advantage of the Internet.
Moreover, the proposal in Bill C-305 would mix the objective of ensuring that Canadians have access to information about the wide range of projects that undergo a federal environmental assessment, such as proposed mines, dams, roads and pipelines, with the important task of identifying and registering contaminated sites.
For those reasons, Bill C-305 would not help us better achieve our environmental goals.
The second related point I would like to make is that the discretionary authority to provide financial assistance for the environmental assessment of projects to remediate contaminated sites, as proposed in Bill C-305, is not necessary.
In fact, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act already goes much further by requiring environmental assessments of remediation projects where there is federal involvement as a proponent, as a provider of financial assistance or land, or as a regulator. For example, remediation projects with federal financial assistance have triggered requirements for an assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
We must also be mindful of provincial jurisdiction. Many of the contaminated sites that are the target of Bill C-305 would fall within provincial areas of responsibility.
This does not mean that the federal government does not work with its provincial partners on this issue. Quite the opposite. Through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, Environment Canada has provided the scientific expertise necessary for the development of a national classification system for contaminated sites, as well as a comprehensive set of guidance manuals promoting the consistent assessment and remediation of contaminated sites across Canada.
The Government of Canada is also taking measures to get its own House in order.
With over 25,000 owned and leased properties, it is essential that we identify and clean up contaminated sites in our control. Work is under way in this regard. Under the federal contaminated sites and solid waste landfills inventory policy a database of federal sites is being compiled. The database will soon be accessible to Canadians through the Internet.
In their sustainable development strategies tabled in February departments with large land holdings such as National Defence, Transport Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada committed to continue with the identification, assessment and remediation of their contaminated sites.
Environment Canada also continues to be a global leader in the development of technologies to clean up contaminated sites.
For example, field experiments near Trail, British Columbia, and Île-aux-Corbeaux in the St. Lawrence River have demonstrated how certain plants can successfully remove toxic substances from soil, sediment and ground and surface water.
Sunflowers, ragweed, cabbage, geranium and Jack pine show considerable promise. Further field trials are being conducted on this innovative method for removing contamination from our lands and water.
In closing, Bill C-305 is a very forwarding looking and thoughtful project, but in the view of the government it is not appropriate because of more wide ranging proposals in Bill C-19 which will significantly strengthen the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
Bill C-19 will help safeguard our environment through an environmental assessment process that is more predictable, certain and timely. Bill C-19 will improve the quality of assessments through measures to improve compliance and ensure more follow up. Bill C-19 will increase opportunities for Canadians to have a meaningful say about projects in their communities.
I applaud the hon. member for Hamilton West. I encourage him to keep his initiative alive and to keep a light on this issue. In light of the efforts of the government on many fronts to deal with contaminated sites, Bill C-305 is not necessary at this time.