Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here to present our 2009 Status Report, which was recently tabled in Parliament. The status report shows what departments and agencies have done to address two issues that were raised in our past reports. In determining whether progress is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, we take into account the complexity of the issue and the amount of time that has passed since the original audit.

Public Accounts committee  Chair, yes, if I may. I wasn't very clear on one of the questions from an honourable member. It was on the resumption of inspections. If I wasn't clear, I want to apologize. He's actually quite right, the inspections of the aircraft stopped in the mid-1990s. For a decade there weren't any, because the funding for that program ceased in the mid-1990s.

Public Accounts committee  I think what we've noted from the report is where they did make satisfactory process. From the 2005 report, there were no systems in place to do any inspection of any aircraft, so there really was a question of whether Canadian air passengers had any assurance in terms of the safety of the potable water on aircraft.

Public Accounts committee  That's a good question. They didn't have any system in place, as I've just mentioned, for the aircraft. They were doing inspections on some trains and on some marine vessels, but we've also noted that there were gaps in terms of the coverage and sufficiency. Do they know how much is sufficient in terms of inspections?

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. In this chapter, we examined the implementation of a Health Canada central guidance document for all federal government departments and agencies to guarantee the quality of drinking water in all federal facilities. We noted, in this chapter, a problem at Correctional Services Canada in guaranteeing the quality of drinking water in its facilities, specifically in Quebec.

Public Accounts committee  As we wrote in the report, when Correctional Services Canada noted that there was a problem with water quality, they took immediate action. They agreed to review their management system and to ensure that the central guidance document on quality was implemented. In response specifically to this problem in Correctional Services facilities, we noted in this chapter that the department responded and will take action to ensure that the problem is dealt with.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. I think, as you've said, both Health Canada itself and CFIA categorize bottled water as low risk. There was nothing in our report that would state that it is anything other than a low risk. As we've noted, Health Canada has been looking at this for, now, eight years.

Public Accounts committee  I think what we've been told by the department is that they are almost ready to announce a new, broader framework that would bring in a comprehensive and clear process. We've said one of the consequences of this being out of date is that there isn't a clear area in terms of roles and responsibilities, who exactly is in charge of what in terms of providing inspections and updated scientific evidence.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The two environmental issues that we cover in this report are fundamental to life: the safety of the water we drink and the quality of the air we breathe. In the area of drinking water, federal guidelines established the maximum acceptable concentration of contaminants in tap water in order to protect human health.

Public Accounts committee  No. I'll say thank you to you and all the members.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. On the ridership, the government said they will not know the uptake until 2011. That's when they can look at the tax returns to see how many Canadians have applied to use the tax fund to get a reduction in their annual passes. The information would be given to Finance from that, and they would actually do an analysis.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I'll turn it over to Mr. Maxwell.

Public Accounts committee  Last year there were some petitions in which one petitioner raised a point repeatedly. In one case, the same petitioner wrote four times, and that will go into the total number of increases. On the electromagnetic question, I'd have to look more carefully and get back to you.

Public Accounts committee  In that case, it was in a community. There were different people within the community who I think might have gotten together and written petitions on a similar topic.

Public Accounts committee  My colleague Mr. Maxwell may want to chime in on this. I think the two, chapter 5 and then chapter 3, looking at the environment chapter and the program that's been supported by the department, are different. Obviously, on the issue related to pollution from the farm sector, that has been the subject of some petitions—and you've correctly pointed that out.