Public Accounts committee  That's one of the reasons why we're working with the United Nations Environment Programme to develop a binding instrument, because that would deal with sources and emissions from industry that are not yet controlled in some countries and that expose Canada through airborne sources, particularly our Arctic.

Public Accounts committee  Oh, he does--rest assured.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I would think that is the case. In the past, it became an add-on to somebody's job; the reporting for Parliament was diffused amongst many people. We did have a major reorganization and restructuring so it was difficult to know who exactly was going to be accountable. We did address that by creating a group that's dedicated to parliamentary reporting.

Public Accounts committee  I'll start and then allow some of my colleagues to jump in. You compared the precautionary principle to risk management. The precautionary principle actually guides us throughout that entire cycle, and it guides us through the risk assessment phase. I'm sure my colleagues would be welcome to speak more on that aspect.

Public Accounts committee  I do take the point. Environment Canada is responsible for preparing the report with input from others and, for a lot of reasons, fell behind on reporting to Parliament, which is unacceptable. It fell behind on a number of different legislative requirements. I'm pleased to say, though, that since I took this position a year ago we've filed 14 reports for a number of pieces of legislation, including two under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Public Accounts committee  Rest assured that the minister has made the same observation and the report is on the conveyor belt to get out the door. There was a period of time in which we got behind on reports. There had previously been fairly good compliance, but I do take the member's point. It is inappropriate.

Public Accounts committee  Certainly. As we mentioned, the risk management strategy pulls together the risks and sources of a problem and how we should deal with them. In the area of mercury, the original sources dealt with were large industrial emitters. Since that time, having many of those sources closed off, we are now looking at other sources, and many of those are in products.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, and I'm sorry my remarks didn't give you enough information in terms of explaining what we are doing today. My colleague mentioned that we do have a significant investment that the government has made in accelerating the assessment and management of substances that came into commerce before the modern regime.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  We have a number of instruments either in place or under development dealing with mercury in products. We are working on regulations that would prohibit the manufacture, import, and sale of products containing mercury except for essential uses, and in those areas limits would be set.

Public Accounts committee  As I am saying, the regulation is still under development. I don't think there are really obstacles to implementing it. This is one of our first product regulations under CEPA, and the work is going well. It is a new area for us, to be regulating products under CEPA, and we are using other tools as well to complement it.

Public Accounts committee  We are expecting it later this year, in 2010, probably towards the early fall, I would expect.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for your question. Just to give you an idea of the context, I think it's important to mention that risk management strategies are a new tool that we now use every time we evaluate a substance. So it's a new procedure that we have in place and we're very proud that it's in place.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. On behalf of Environment Canada, and with my colleagues from Health Canada, I'm pleased to appear before the committee today with the opportunity to address this important chapter. As you may know, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, CEPA 1999, is Canada's key piece of environmental legislation governing the assessment and management of chemical substances.