Environment committee  You're asking us to speculate a little, and it may be difficult to do. Generically, I would say that any time the requirements are clear for a proponent as to what mitigation measures are going to be required and what the environmental assessment process is going to be--what the

Environment committee  There is. In the case of the oil sands, the main purpose of CEMA is to take a look at cumulative effects more broadly, rather than on a project-by-project basis.

Environment committee  We do it project by project. And I agree that there are challenges, on a project-by-project basis, in assessing the cumulative effects of a whole range of projects, particularly when we're talking about projects that might occur sometime in the future, for which we have very litt

Environment committee  Steve may have more to add to this, perhaps, but we have a real challenge, I would agree. It's very difficult to understand the overall carrying capacity, if you will, of an ecosystem, a drainage basin, or an airshed in the context of individual environmental assessments. What

Environment committee  Steve's probably closer to that project than I am. I would say, though, that I don't think it reflects a trend. I think it reflects a new reality, though, which is that both proponents and governments need to pay attention to aboriginal rights, and particularly governments need t

Environment committee  That is a very challenging issue. We certainly can't question sometimes the information we're being provided with by proponents.

Environment committee  There may be situations where we suspect that things may not be adding up. I know we've had situations in the past where different pieces of information from the company say different things.

Environment committee  What we do is a bit of due diligence to make sure that, on the basis of the information available, the process that applies is the appropriate one. We don't have access to insider information or any other information, so we have to rely on publicly available information or inform

Environment committee  We certainly can do that in situations where, during the course of the environmental assessment, we see that the project has changed to the point that it requires a different type of assessment.

Environment committee  If the project changes, if it expands, for example, following approval, we have limited ability to react, I have to say. The nature of the triggers will sometimes influence what action can be taken. If we have a regulatory trigger, a Fisheries Act authorization, for example, fo

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  No. CEMA is an independent.... It's a stand-alone body. It's a multi-stakeholder body. I think there are something like 41 organizations in it, including environmental groups, aboriginal groups, industry representatives, and government--federal and provincial. Its responsibility

Environment committee  No. It's meant to provide advice and information in support of environmental assessments for oil sands projects.

Environment committee  Strategic assessments are mandatory when the government is putting forward a policy or a plan that may have some environmental impact. Strategic assessments do not apply to the tar sands project.

Environment committee  Oui. Do you want to answer that?