Mr. Speaker, I was encouraged by the tone of debate earlier today, but I have to express a bit of disappointment in my colleague in turning this debate into a partisan issue, rather than looking at the form and substance of the bill itself as we hopefully take it into committee stage.
I would like to give my colleague the opportunity to speak to a specific recommendation that perhaps she would have and perhaps to take a moment to retract some of the incorrect comments that she made, including the 99% environmental screening component. The Commissioner of the Environment said in the subcommittee on Bill C-38:
The majority of screenings are very small projects for which there are no significant adverse environmental impacts. The agency has estimated that 94% of screenings would not pose significant adverse environmental impacts.
I would like the member to comment on that statement. Since she raised it in debate perhaps she could also talk about whether or not, since the Commissioner of the Environment says that 94% of these small screenings do not have significant environmental impacts, she believes that the money and time spent on these screenings is better spent on no environmental impact rather than the larger environmental impact assessments where the funding is now going.