Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to talk with the witnesses today. This is the first time I sit on a committee. In my previous life, I worked a lot on environmental issues, especially relating to the disposal of organic matter at the municipal and farm levels.
However, I have the feeling that this is not one of your concerns, especially relating to the Great Lakes where there is a lot of pollution caused by organic matter. Do you believe that the present legislation is adequate to deal with the pollution of the Great Lakes caused by organic matter? That would be my first question.
It would seem that toxic substances are your main concern and that you want the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to deal mainly with toxic substances. You have underlined four major deficiencies of the Act. First, it does not deal with chemicals. Then, there is the issue of the Great Lakes. And, finally, you regret that we do not try to eliminate toxic substances and that industry is not being made responsible for that.
As was mentioned by Mr. Bigras, there is more advanced legislation in Europe and in the United States. Do you think we should try to move in the same direction?
Those are my two questions : the issue of organic compounds in relation to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and the issue of toxic substances. Would you recommend that we move squarely towards systems or programs such as REACH?