Environment committee  Yes, every proposal does, according to the directive.

Environment committee  Every proposal for which there could be important environmental effects, either negative or positive, does.

Environment committee  That's right. There's a little bit more.

Environment committee  —or positive—

Environment committee  Somebody is following the rules.

Environment committee  One of the things I tried to say in our opening statement is that we think these strategies should come in front of all the other parliamentary committees. What is the Department of Health doing in terms of implementing a sustainable development strategy? What's the Department of National Defence doing?

Environment committee  There was none that I'm aware of.

Environment committee  I don't know all the history of the cabinet directive, but when you think about the tools you can use to look at environmental impacts, the two big tools you have are the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which looks at projects on the ground, such as a new mine or a new railway, and examines the environmental impacts.

Environment committee  Could I add a couple of things? I think that Scott has talked about the idea of putting it in a central agency. Mr. Godfrey has done the same thing, and I would agree with that. I think the other thing is the role of this committee and the role of other parliamentary committees.

Environment committee  The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development is in the Office of the Auditor General. The role of the commissioner is not an enforcement role. I'm not the police person or policewoman of the strategy or of the act. I'm not a lawyer. I'd have to think about what we could think about in terms of enforcing the act, but right now that's not my role.

Environment committee  And I would tell you how well you're doing.

Environment committee  My apologies if that was disrespectful.

Environment committee  I would argue that the suggestion Mr. Godfrey made.... It's sitting in a line department. It's being run by Paula. I'm sure she's doing a fabulous job.

Environment committee  Exactly, and she's doing the best she can at that level. But it's very different to be running it out of a line department than it is running it out of a central agency.

Environment committee  Right, exactly.