Environment committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the committee for the invitation to appear here today to contribute to its study of Bill C-238, the national strategy for safe disposal of lamps containing mercury act. Thank you to Mr. Fisher for bringing forward this bill. Before focusi

Environment committee  I'm here to provide facts and context. I am not representing a position. A policy approach comes from the elected officials.

Environment committee  I think it might be helpful to provide a bit of context around what we see as current gaps today, and how a strategy might help fill those gaps. As was noted, there is extended producer responsibility in four jurisdictions in Canada, and there are other voluntary take-back progra

Environment committee  The bill as written now, and with the amendments that I understand have been proposed to this committee, looks at how you would develop a strategy and who you would involve, taking advantage of what currently exists. To come up with an approach that is dictated from the start, I

Environment committee  I don't think it's my place to propose wording and amendments to the bill. I take your point that there was endorsement by provinces and territories through the Canada-wide action plan on extended producer responsibility back in 2009. There are other constituencies that Mr. Fishe

Environment committee  I don't think I'm an expert on that.

Environment committee  I wouldn't profess to speak for all legislation across the government. There is quite a bit. I referenced the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, previously. I'm trying to remember, because it's a very large bill, but I believe it has a preambular section. I wouldn't want to g

Environment committee  I'm not sure I have one top of mind. I'm thinking about lead batteries, but I honestly don't know enough to speak properly to it. I can't answer that question.

Environment committee  What might be helpful is to explain a bit of context around waste management and how the various levels of government interrelate in this fairly important issue. The federal government has focused quite deliberately on the interprovincial and international movement of hazardous

Environment committee  That's a fairly broad question. I'll try my best to answer it.

Environment committee  With regard to flexibility, I was trying to indicate that when you're dealing with multiple levels of government, you need to understand how different parts of the country operate, There are different pressures, different economic profiles, and different types of industries opera

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. The code of practice that was published in a draft back in April of this year, and which we hope to finalize this year, provides an overview of best practices to a certain level across a number of particular areas of environmentally sound management o

Environment committee  I don't have the exact numbers, but I would say, given the work I've done on the Minamata Convention on Mercury, that the vast majority of air pollution from mercury comes from foreign sources. About 95% of deposition comes from Asia, the U.S., and other countries, and it is depo

Environment committee  I would say that on sources of mercury to air from coal-fired electricity, regulations have been passed. The intent behind them was not about reducing mercury, but there's a strong co-benefit already being realized and continuing to be realized from the promulgation of those regu

Environment committee  I don't have ready facts for that, but we could certainly follow up.