Mr. Speaker, before answering the question put by the hon. member, I would like to review what has been happening, especially in the last two years.
The waterborne diseases we saw in Ontario last year and in Saskatchewan recently have brought to our attention the issue of access to safe drinking water in Canada. We know that these two tragedies are not isolated incidents. Several people have died and thousands got sick. I share the grief of all the people and the families who were affected by this. This situation is becoming all too common in Canada. As parliamentarians, it is not easy for us to find out that some people have died from drinking contaminated water.
There is something else that must be taken into consideration. If we talk about wells, we know that, in Quebec, many lakes are near some municipalities. For several years now, only one lake has been constantly monitored by the Quebec Department of the Environment, only one lake out of more than 500,000. Who is looking after the other lakes in Quebec?
The same thing goes for wells. The federal government is not monitoring all the wells in all the provinces. It is not easy, especially in remote areas. We have the same problem with ground water. In Quebec, 20% of the people living outside urban areas, as well as hundreds of businesses and farm operations, use ground water as their water source. However we know almost nothing about where they are located. That is what is happening right now in Quebec. We do not know how renewable these water reserves are and we know nothing about their users. Only the municipalities that use that water source or water bottlers are accountable for their water management.
In answer to the member's question, I am not familiar with the report he is referring to. He would have to provide me with a copy. However, we know that there is a considerable lack of knowledge in the provinces, in Quebec for instance, on the state of their water supply.