Mr. Speaker, I have a few comments that I would like make.
I have a lot of respect for the hon. member and in the approach he has taken in the House. He also knows that the tradition of the Progressive Conservative Party is to be very respectful of jurisdictional concerns between the federal government and the provinces. We would support an opting out provision, if a province had a piece of legislation that was equal or higher.
I would like to speak to the history of this issue. In 1990 the then minister of the environment had concerns about three legislative gaps that were not in existence in Canada. They were our capacity to protect species at risk, the need to renew our pesticide legislation and the need to have a safe drinking water act. The then minister was the hon. Lucien Bouchard. Mr. Bouchard was right then, and that piece of legislation is right now in this regard.
This is a shared jurisdiction. However does the member understand that the jurisdictional component, as it applies to the federal government, is the Department of Health when we legislate toxicity with pesticides, chemicals or exposure therein?