Environment committee  Good afternoon. We've prepared notes that we'll need to revise slightly, and only slightly, in light of Friday's announcements. I'm going to talk about consumer products, and if there's time we'll get into the in-commerce list. The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 g

Environment committee  I guess it's a little bit of both. The Hazardous Products Act is 37 years old, entirely reactive, and product-by-product focused, all of which is very cumbersome and slow. The example of lead is what I use to illustrate that. As you know, we have identified in the last 15 years

Environment committee  The point I was making on lead is that it was grandfathered into CEPA as toxic. There wasn't even a need for an assessment report back in the early 1990s. We know that lead is toxic. My concern is not about overlap; it's about a gap when something is toxic under CEPA and this st

Environment committee  I don't think there is enough. First of all, there isn't a regulatory framework that determines whether or not they should be there in the first place. There's an assumption in the public's mind that if something is on the shelf it's been evaluated and determined to be of accepta

Environment committee  I think what was announced and what was just outlined is a good step forward. It's been a roller coaster of a weekend for a lot of reasons, so I'm not exactly sure, but I'm pretty sure--and Kapil has looked at it as well—that the timelines that have been suggested for this next r

Environment committee  I think there has been advancement in terms of enshrining the requirement to do that in the Pest Control Products Act. It's why we've suggested it in CEPA, to make it required. It has been departmental policy for several years to address vulnerable populations. The modernization

Environment committee  That speaks to another one of the recommendations we have made, which is the decision about risk. The decision to decide that a substance is CEPA-toxic is a scientific decision and should not be a cabinet decision.

Environment committee  Are you asking with respect to new chemicals or with respect to what Mr. Glover has been talking about?

Environment committee  It's for new chemicals.

Environment committee  Paul wants to answer, but no, the onus is on proponents--industry--to provide data. However, I would say that the evaluation also considers more so-called independent published peer-reviewed literature and/or it should. That's certainly the case for the evaluation of pesticides,

Environment committee  Can I respond to that?

Environment committee  Okay.

Environment committee  At the risk of talking when I haven't prepared myself on the topic, because I focused on products, I think you're pointing out a really important issue. You're focusing on areas where the concern is the greatest, in terms of health concerns from air pollution, and in particular o

Environment committee  Yes, it's interdepartmental, but it's also an inter-jurisdictional issue, because we have tended to put to the level of Canada-wide standards some of the most difficult and intractable issues, such as the smog-forming air pollutants, and we need to do a better job of controlling

Environment committee  I would say the situation has improved. Go ahead, Kapil.