Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats have chosen to debate an interesting topic today.
I would like to reflect on the importance of public education. A government can implement certain measures in order to help our environment. I talked at great length with respect to a couple of personal ones at the provincial level, and perhaps I will have the opportunity later to expand on that. However, one of the overriding themes we should recognize is that the consumer has a critical role to play here. More than ever, Canadians are very much in tune with our environment and want to take positive steps toward having a better environment.
My question to the member is related to education and how important it is for government and for individual members to use issues such as this as a way to better educate or inform constituents and Canadians as a whole about how they can contribute to a better environment by not using specific products, as an example, and by explaining what microbeads are. Most Canadians have no idea what a microbead is. Therefore, there is an important role for education in this whole process, as well as government regulation.