Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my colleague a question regarding Bill C-5.
One of the things she mentioned in her speech was the environmental contaminants issue. In this chamber in 2002, I presented a motion on environmental contaminants and human health. It looked to create an investigative body that would go to hot spots where we know that cancer rates, for example, or other contaminant issues that are linked to environmental pollution are problematic for those communities. It would look at ways to take remedial action and investigations as well as introduce some best practices to lower the actual percentages of either the cancer rates or other types of illnesses.
In my area, we have respiratory diseases. We have a significant pollution problem from the United States and from our own industries that cause health problems. We actually have some benefits that could be introduced through remedial action.
It is important to add a prevention element to this as well because some of the issues that we deal with, related to disease as well as contaminants, could be done in the forefront by preventing those things in the first place. My question to the member is, how should that envisioned role be part of public health in terms of lowering our costs and, most important, improving the lives of our citizens on a daily basis in order to extend their lives?