Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his speech on such an important issue. I also want to thank my NDP colleague from Halifax for bringing this debate to the House of Commons today. She does excellent work. The proof is that this week she already moved a motion calling for an emergency debate on the Arctic ice, which is melting quite quickly, more quickly than ever. Unfortunately, the emergency debate was denied.
Today, at least, we are having a debate on the environment. I know that sustainable development and the environment are very important issues in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, the Conservatives do not see it this way, but to the NDP, these are key aspects to economic development.
We are talking here about plastic microbeads that end up in places like the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence River near my riding, Drummond. We have a lot of questions about the risks this poses to our biodiversity and even to our own health.
I am a member of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, and we recently conducted a study on the Great Lakes. We wanted to broaden that study to talk about climate change, water temperature, which also has an impact on our biodiversity and the ecosystem, as well as plastic microbeads. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so. I am pleased that we are talking about this today because I think it is an extremely important issue.
Does my colleague agree with the NDP and also think that this is an extremely important issue and that we must act quickly, unlike the Conservatives, who are dragging their heels on this? We must act now. It is rather deplorable that the Conservatives did not act sooner. At least the NDP has a constructive approach, and that is why we moved this motion in order to do something constructive to deal with this issue.