Environment committee  It should. We should have, in developing any goal, some sense of the costs and we should be thinking of doing some analysis to support that if we expect to achieve a measurable outcome.

Environment committee  I think we would need to do that kind of analysis, yes.

Environment committee  I think the bill is actually very prescriptive, yes.

Environment committee  As I read the bill, that's my understanding. The suggestion is that there could be provincial involvement, yes.

Environment committee  As I mentioned, we do have machinery in place to facilitate consultation with the provinces at a number of levels, most importantly the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. We have a work program in that organization that is technical, particularly, but does extend to some very important issues.

Environment committee  I'm simply reading the text of the bill. As I understand it, the goals would be established: there would be a schedule, and then it would fall to the minister within two years to return to the House and table a national sustainable development strategy, with targets in each area, and then within 30 days of that make regulations.

Environment committee  I don't wish to speculate on the intent of the drafters of the bill. I'm merely saying that if indeed it were the case that the bill would require the use of the regulatory tool for each target, and if indeed it were to be as extensive as currently suggested, yes, I think that would be extremely difficult to achieve, based on our experience in making regulations in accordance with the existing statutory framework.

Environment committee  We obviously have not done that analysis, but it would be very significant. The committee may wish to examine the experience with the development of a single environmental regulation. It normally takes some years, depending on its complexity and on the requirement for consultation, not only with the provinces, but also, of course, with industry and other stakeholders.

Environment committee  Mr. Chairman, I was simply seeking to clarify for the committee what the government is doing currently as it relates to the renewal of sustainable development strategies. I wasn't commenting specifically, in that section, on Bill C-474. With respect to Bill C-474, I just noted two questions that I would have if it fell to my department to implement the bill as a practical matter.

Environment committee  Being precise in the terms will be important in relation to the instruments that are then required, under the bill, to be used. As you've suggested, the fact that the bill requires the minister to make regulation in a very wide range of areas that are listed in column 2 of the schedule would raise the question about how successfully we would be able to develop and implement that regulation, both in terms of its scope and also in terms of the specific items.

Environment committee  Thank you. I was explaining the current situation with respect to the sustainable development strategies. In December of 2006, on tabling the fourth round of sustainable development strategies, the Minister of the Environment specifically noted the commissioner's observation in 2005 that the failure to develop a federal sustainable development strategy “ will leave Canadians and parliamentarians without a clear idea of the government's overall plan for sustainable development, how it will get there, and what progress it has made.”

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am pleased to be here before you today to assist the committee in its consideration of Bill C-474. I would like to begin by spending a moment on the Government of Canada's current approach to sustainable development strategies.

Environment committee  We are late with our reporting, sir.

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  The national water strategy, sir, was a part of Budget 2007. The details of it were described in the budget. There has been a series of announcements since that time for specific projects under the strategy.