Environment committee  Certainly. I didn't mean to give the impression that we don't work with our U.S. counterparts or that we would ignore the U.S. enforcement action in terms of the activities we would undertake ourselves towards pursuing an investigation. We have regular communication with the Uni

Environment committee  I joined the department in 2020.

Environment committee  I believe I'm able to speak to the issues.

Environment committee  Absolutely. The penalties associated with CEPA enforcement serve multiple purposes, one of which is deterrence, not only to the individuals or companies that were the subject of non-compliance but also to others in the same industry. As you know, the Environmental Enforcement Ac

Environment committee  Sure. I think that's really well framed in terms of the goal of the enforcement program, which is to address non-compliance and reduce non-compliance. Administrative monetary penalties certainly are one tool that's been available to officers since 2017. What you'll see is that w

Environment committee  As the enforcement branch, we work closely with our colleagues in the environmental protection branch, who are responsible for developing regulations and working on any legislative changes. Our goal there is to make sure that any envisioned changes are workable from an enforcemen

Environment committee  That's a really interesting question. I think this goes back to the creation in 2005 of the enforcement branch, which was designed to create an independent and impartial investigative body that could undertake enforcement activities under CEPA. To the best of my knowledge, th

Environment committee  With a case of this magnitude, it's not unusual for the investigation to take multiple years. It's certainly correct that, as Ms. Collins mentioned, under section 23 of the Canada Evidence Act, records of proceedings from certain foreign courts, including the United States, can b

Environment committee  Absolutely, while it is possible to enter their statement of facts as evidence for a Canadian prosecution, the fact is that the charges laid in the United States were under U.S. law and weren't the same as what was pursued in Canada under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act

Environment committee  Absolutely. There are a variety of factors to look at here, the critical one being the types of inspections and investigations that are undertaken in a given year. There can be some fluctuation, particularly as we move to a more risk-based approach, so looking at specific indust

Environment committee  That's an interesting question. What I would say is that our responsibility as an enforcement branch is to make sure we're making the most effective use of the resources we have. That's why we have moved to a risk-based approach. We're looking both at the impact of non-complianc