Fisheries committee  Yes, it was really a cornerstone of the department's response to our chapter, where they mentioned that they had established this new organization to do the kinds of things we had been recommending the department do. So we have not yet audited the results of that organization, as

Fisheries committee  I would just add that our recommendation, in our 2002 work, went exactly to the point you are making, that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans needs to understand the risks that are posed by aquatic invasive species and which ones pose the greatest risk to Canada's economy and

Environment committee  I'll preface my remarks by saying that this is an issue that was identified in 1987, when these sites were first identified as being severely degraded and in need of remediation. There have been, as you said, four plans—Canada-Ontario agreements—since that time. We have noted som

Environment committee  It's that latter part, targets for when they hope to achieve the delisting. In some ways we're pleased with the added precision of the most recent Canada-Ontario agreement; in some ways we're concerned because there are no target dates for actually delisting these areas.

Environment committee  The problem didn't seem to be a matter of identifying areas that needed protection, but rather, as Mr. Thompson said, identifying the threats that needed to be addressed and then responding to those with management plans and action plans to do so. We found that most of the action

Environment committee  We look at the management of the issue. Independent, as well, of announcements, we look at how things have been managed on the file.

Environment committee  Sure. In this audit we looked at whether the government itself understood what it was trying to manage with respect to species at risk, that is, the abundance and distribution of the 389 species at risk on federal lands. We looked at our previous audit. We had concluded the gov

Environment committee  I think that's a reasonable conclusion.

Environment committee  No.

Environment committee  The agreements go a long way in specifying the action required to clean up these sites and identifying who should be doing it, but they don't really get to the commitment from the various parties involved that they will do it by a certain date. In the majority of these sites th

Environment committee  We understand there have been memos, but not the kind of report the IJC would have expected.

Environment committee  Richard may have more information on the St. Lawrence action plan, which we may have looked at in connection with the Great Lakes work a few years ago.

Environment committee  I think it was actually the current government that established the most recent committee. Our point here was mainly that these committees have transitioned and changed so frequently as to obscure what their mandate is vis-à-vis the strategy process.

Environment committee  I think it would have been a previous government, yes.

Environment committee  In our previous audit, we had recommended that the government move ahead with providing guidance to the 32 departments responsible for producing sustainable development strategies, and that guidance was made available publicly in July, approximately five months before the most re