Environment committee  Yes, for sure. I think it's in clause 19 that Bill S-5 sets out a new priority planning process. Once the bill comes into force, they'll have two years to set out a new plan that's going to identify the priorities under CEPA for the assessment and management of substances. Consultations are involved and so on.

Environment committee  I think it would continue the 20-year legacy of Canada's extremely advanced position on chemicals management. That's why the part of the bill that Dr. MacDonald just referred to needs to advance as quickly as possible. It's so we know what the future of chemicals management will be in Canada and, quite frankly, so that industry can start getting ready to respond to those inquiries.

Environment committee  You can't ask for things you don't know about.

Environment committee  Chair. I want to thank all the witnesses for their testimony. My first set of questions are for Dr. MacDonald. Thank you for your comments on the need for clearer timelines and accountability in order to prevent multi-year delays and provide certainty. I want to start by asking you about the recommendation on safer substitution.

Environment committee  This is what we see the watch-list doing and why we think it is so important. The watch-list is an early-warning system to warn us that these substances are, potentially, ones you want to avoid substituting if another substance is banned or restricted. We call it “regrettable substitution” when a substance is restricted, so another substance replaces it and we later find out that the other substance is also toxic and of concern.

Environment committee  Yes. Bill S-5 adds a new section where a member of the public can ask the ministers to assess a substance and determine whether or not it is toxic. It adopts language from the existing CEPA that is now used for something called the “priority substance list”, which is a part of CEPA that is rarely used.

Environment committee  To explain the timelines recommendation, the timeline that we're frustrated by right now is the lack of a timeline between the proposed risk assessment being published—most of the work has been done at that point and there's a proposed risk assessment that's public comment—and then finalizing that risk assessment.

Environment committee  I just want to note that TSCA does require auditing of a certain proportion of confidential business information claims, and the audits that the U.S. EPA has done have found that up to a quarter of them don't meet the bar partially or fully. I've shared that information; I think there's a link to it in our brief.

Environment committee  We'll now go to Dr. MacDonald.

Environment committee  Good evening, and thank you for inviting me to testify to this important bill. I appeared before this committee six years ago, I think, when it first began its review of CEPA, so I'm very pleased to be here to speak to Bill S‑5 after all of this work. It has not been quite as long as Lisa and her maternity leave.

Environment committee  From Ecojustice, we have Dr. Elaine MacDonald, program director, healthy communities. Each set of witnesses has three minutes. We'll try to get it all done by 5:50 p.m., which I think is possible. We'll start with Ms.

Canada-China Relations committee  We're back in session. We're pleased to welcome our second panel. We have Dr. Justin Massie, a full professor at Université du Québec à Montréal and co-director of the Network for Strategic Analysis. From the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, we have Jonathan Berkshire Miller, director of the Indo-Pacific program and a senior fellow.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  When Mary Ellen Macdonald gave testimony earlier she talked about quite a comprehensive application that is before government for funding that is really trying to fill this gap. The pieces that are being considered, whether it's with that project or another, are from groups that have been highlighted as particularly of interest in the CCA report.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you as well for the invitation to present to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. In addition to being director of the department of bioethics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, I've worked as a pediatric bioethicist for more than 22 years.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  This brings our panel to a close. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank Ms. Sheehy, Dr. Macdonald and Dr. Dhara for their testimony this morning on a very important subject. We very much appreciate you being with us. With that, we will adjourn temporarily as we set up for the second panel.