Madam Chair, I would be glad to answer my hon. colleague, but I would remind him again that the environmental emergency offices are not first responders. Environment Canada personnel very rarely attend the sites of pollutant spills, oil spills or gaseous emissions. They support the lead agencies in any of these cleanup situations, be they municipal organizations, fire departments, police departments, provincial organizations, or in the case of federal departments, where a seaborne spill is involved, the Coast Guard under Transport Canada, and for rail accidents, Transport Canada, or the appropriate federal lead agency.
In the House of Commons on May 15th, 2012. See this statement in context.