Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development entitled “The Great Lakes Charter Annex 2001 Implementing Agreements”.
In accordance with its order of reference under Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 21, 2004, the committee has considered and held hearings on the subject matter of the Great Lakes Charter Annex 2001 Implementing Agreements and agreed to it on Thursday, November 25, 2004.
I would like to express appreciation to the members of the committee and those who made deputations as witnesses.
The subject matter deals with Annex 2001, which is an initiative dealing with the diversion of waters within the Great Lakes basin. This is a matter that has been of great urgency. In fact, the history of protecting boundary waters goes back to 1909 with the establishment of the International Joint Commission.
This is a consensus document. I would invite all members to read the document carefully. If there are questions of either the committee or individuals on the committee, I would certainly volunteer as chair of the committee to undertake to get responses to those questions. I thank the members of the House for their attention to this committee.