Environment committee  That story has been puzzling to a lot of us. Like a lot of stories, there are elements of reality, but the specifics are quite puzzling. The ecological monitoring and assessment network you mentioned is a very small program in Environment Canada. Essentially we coordinate and h

Environment committee  No, there wasn't. The way budgets work is that people get a budget at the beginning of the year and they start making commitments and expenditures against that. We did a six-month review and we asked people to stop making any further commitments at their level. It was still ava

Environment committee  No. We made sure everybody understood that we didn't want any more commitments for a period of time and where they should go if they needed authorization for spending.

Environment committee  We have the authority to act, but it's a question of priorities. The ministry outlined a number of priorities we're working on, and phosphate from dishwashing liquid detergent is apparently 1% of the problem. Our priority is the municipal waste water regulations, which are a more

Environment committee  The coordination office is going to track the process. They're going to be “one window” for industry to understand where a file is, either in the environmental assessment or in the permitting process. They're going to try to make the permitting process move more smoothly with the

Environment committee  With regard to the total budget that we spend on all of our protected areas--we have national wildlife areas and migratory bird sanctuaries--our total spending is about $3.6 million annually. That is a little down from previous years just in the area of the operating budget. The

Environment committee  No, it's more. It's approximately $3.6 million a year.

Environment committee  In the operating budget, the budget has gone down slightly. In the salaries budget, our people stayed the same.

Environment committee  I'd have to get the details for that particular program area. I only have--

Environment committee  They are simply the figures for this year. I've already told you that it was $3.6 million.

Environment committee  I don't know the details for last year.

Environment committee  We can do it at least for 2005 and 2006.

Environment committee  That agreement is still going through the approval process. It was finalized early in this year, so it's not part of the Canadian Wildlife Service budget that's before you. We're still finalizing the approvals through the government process.

Environment committee  We hope to be able to take it to Treasury Board as soon as possible, and that would be early in the new year.

Environment committee  We hope so.