Environment committee  Exactly. As my colleague said, that would be how it's supposed to work. If the submission of a report is required, then the officer should say, “Wait a second, you haven't submitted your report, and you have to.” We said, well, there are 26 where there are mandatory requirements for reports and let's look at nine of the top priorities.

Environment committee  We spoke to officers on the ground. We spoke to officers in the regions. We spoke to officers in headquarters.

Environment committee  I think they're doing more than an analysis, sir. I actually think they're moving to correct them. I think their schedule is to have them corrected by 2012.

Environment committee  We would have to ask Environment Canada. We don't know exactly where they are in terms of finalizing all the files.

Environment committee  That is correct.

Environment committee  The risk assessment is done first at headquarters, and then that overall risk assessment done at headquarters is then handed to the regional offices where appropriate. Within the parameters of the national assessment, the regional offices will then say there may be a greater risk, for example, in the Maritimes on this particular regulation.

Environment committee  Thank you very much for the questions, Chair. I'll say just two things. On the changes, which the honourable member has outlined, and the new schedule of penalties and increased maximum thresholds for the penalties, we weren't able to audit those, because they are not yet in force.

Environment committee  No, I would characterize it more this way. The management systems are there to make the system work. If there are gaps in the management systems, particularly when they involve gathering evidence, and there are gaps in the evidence, they actually cripple the ability to pursue actions in courts or otherwise.

Environment committee  No. It would be fairly rare. I think we found one previous case in the Auditor General's office, so this is quite rare. It's less usual for a department not to accept recommendations. But it is very rare not to accept the findings or the conclusions, but to accept the recommendations.

Environment committee  This one has gone up, down, and sideways, involving many senior colleagues in the Office of the Auditor General because of the unusual nature of this. This is a rock-solid audit, which is based on facts.

Environment committee  According to Environment Canada's own analysis, 40% of the regulations have some kind of enforceability gap. We list the types of gaps—but it's about the clarity of definitions within the regulations themselves. If there are vague definitions or there's an omission in a regulation, then either that vagueness or lack of clarity is going to run a risk of affecting an inspector's ability to fully pursue the regulation, because it's not clear what the inspector is supposed to do or what its meaning would be if it were actually to move forward to the courts, for example.

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. We noted in our annual report on environmental petitions that a number of petitioners wanted to better understand the role and responsibilities of the federal government in the area of shale gas exploration. However, we did not study that issue. I have a mandate to inform parliamentarians of matters that Canadians raised with the department.

Environment committee  I would say that's a policy issue. And just to underscore the honourable member's previous question, the government in 2007 increased the resources to Environment Canada for its enforcement branch. But I think it's up to the committee and members of Parliament to ask the departments about resource issues.

Environment committee  I think broadly that Canadians would be better protected if the regulations on the books were actively enforced. They're there for a reason; they're there to protect human health and environmental quality. As I said, we found significant issues in all three entities. I would also say that we have proposed recommendations to fix the issues that we've identified.

Environment committee  This was not an audit, but a study. It was intended to complement the science audit. We've had many questions, including questions from this committee and, for example, from the previous chair, as to how many environmental monitoring systems exist, what they look like, what departments run them, what they do, what they cover, and what geographic areas they have covered.