Environment committee  Thank you, Matt, and thank you for the question. At Environment and Climate Change Canada, we have, within my own branch, the science and technology branch, about 1,500 scientists. That complements scientists who are active in other parts of the department, like the meteorologic

Environment committee  For sure, and I think that testimony was specifically with respect to microplastics in drinking water, including airborne microplastics. That is an area—both micro and nano—where the science is least definitive, so there's a lot more work to be done there. That's why we started

Environment committee  The top 10 is an EU number. Peter Ross spoke about the dirty dozen in Canada. In terms of origin, at this point in time, we are not able to draw a straight line between that piece of plastic and its source, but work is being done on that.

Environment committee  Yes, part of the challenge is that public perception is, in many cases, ahead of where the science is. In many cases we don't have a crystal clear answer from a scientific perspective. With regard to science assessment, in the case of microbeads, for example, where there is some

Environment committee  Can I just add a few sentences? You don't see this on the website, but there is a dedicated plastics team that didn't exist a year ago. Within Helen's group, there is now a complete task force focused on plastics. Within my own organization of the science and technology branch,

Environment committee  In developing their directives, the EU's top-10 list of items to ban was based on a review of what was found on beaches. They surveyed 263 beaches across Europe and counted and classified things by what they were—cigarette butts, etc. From their perspective that was enough for th

Environment committee  If I understand your question correctly, in that scenario you would be looking at a schedule 1 listing of plastic waste versus plastics. I'm not a lawyer, but should our state of science assessment, as we gather information, lead us to that place, then plastic waste, as I underst

Environment committee  That would be the research agenda for June. What would be required for listing on schedule 1 would be a full risk assessment. The very clear message from the best brains exchange and the science symposium is that there are significant gaps in research. We are looking at making su

Environment committee  Well, the specific request from Environmental Defence was a listing on the priority substance list. Essentially, if the minister would proceed with doing do that, the first step to put it forward would be a science assessment that would take up to five years. That's what a PSL li

Environment committee  It's our understanding that a schedule 1 listing would be more efficient than a PSL listing.

Environment committee  To that particular request, the minister did provide a response, and I believe Environmental Defence provided that to you as part of its evidence. From listening to their testimony, they did note that an interim response had been provided. There's no requirement for a decision wi

Environment committee  As in the case for microbeads, we can do a state of the science and pull from the best available knowledge globally. It will help us in terms of fast-tracking in that scenario.

Environment committee  Thank you. With respect to the science agenda, certainly first and foremost we are focused on situating our research agenda to support the policy direction. That being said, in terms of what you've heard about the areas of focus, that's what we've heard in the science symposium.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Flato. The Government of Canada recognizes the real impact of climate change on our environment, as highlighted by the IPCC. That’s why the government worked with the provinces and territories, and with input from Indigenous peoples, to develop and adopt the pan-C

Environment committee  Hi. My name is Nancy Hamzawi. I am the assistant deputy minister of science and technology at Environment and Climate Change Canada.