Environment committee  I think quite well. The way CEPA is written, it explicitly defers to existing legislation with a focus on those other areas, such as the examples you gave. I'm not an expert on at least half of those that you mentioned, and probably all of them. I know CEPA quite well, but I can'

Environment committee  I think the bureaucracy was given some pretty clear speaking notes about a year ago on what was going to happen, and they continue to carry those through. That's my honest and humble opinion.

Environment committee  I think you would certainly benefit from at least one expert testimony on the NPRI. The reality, though, is that starting about several years ago, the NPRI seems to have fallen apart a little bit; it seems to have lost its allure among environmental advocates in respect to its s

Environment committee  Yes, I think that's true. Aside from policy, the reality is that our American cousins do a lot better than we do on most pollution issues. In particular, we see net increases in U.S. emissions tied more to their population base. Our plants are grossly inefficient, as Kapil referr

Environment committee  Right. I may be addressing a bit of a thorny issue, but there have been some huge changes in the structure of Environment Canada and the way its departments are aligned. Keeping in mind that the CEPA review was supposed to have started almost a year ago, I think the bureaucracy

Environment committee  I would suggest a stronger, tighter Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. That is an international agreement that's been in place for years and it has roots in the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. So simply referencing within the act its commitment to realize those other internatio

Environment committee  No, I did not refer to that. You talking about ships, are you not? I didn't raise the issue but I'm happy to address the question.

Environment committee  Oui, mais I don't think through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The water quality agreement is focused primarily on toxic pollutants, on sulphurs, for example, nitrates, that kind of thing.

Environment committee  There are different statutes for that. I'd have to do a quick review to see if it deals with ballast water. Primarily, in the U.S., the ballast water is not addressed by the bilateral act but rather through domestic legislation. The coast guard in the United States--it's called “

Environment committee  Do you want me to take that on?

Environment committee  I agree with Kapil that to finish it in less than a couple of months would be aggressive and ambitious at the same time. I think a more substantive review is due. I was around for the CEPA 1999 review. That one took a considerable amount of time, and in my humble opinion, the cha

Environment committee  No, it has not. It's not meeting its goals or objectives. But some of the biggest failures in the act, in my opinion--and we may differ on this--are not based solely in the text, but in its implementation and the opportunities within the act for decision-makers to opt out of reg

Environment committee  We certainly need closer ties to international agreements, and something that would force regulatory action when the voluntary measures have not worked. Right now the act allows for regulatory backstops, but I don't think any regulation--and I'd happily be corrected on this--has

Environment committee  I think you might be referring to some of the confidentiality concerns that industry had with some of their data. In some industries that are consolidated or have very small sectors, it's easy to determine which plant is getting which data because there are only a few plants. I'm

Environment committee  Thank you. I guess I'm second-best.