Natural Resources committee  Have greenhouse gases ever been included in the terms and conditions? Yes, greenhouse gas emissions have been included in the guidelines for panels.

Natural Resources committee  I would want to go back to check. There have only been two joint panels that have reported to date, between the federal and provincial governments. I would want to go back to check the recommendations. In terms of the scoping panel, can I just clarify one issue? The scope that the government departments establish to assess a project will shape the nature of the assessment, including whether it is a screening or a comprehensive study; the referral to panel doesn't depend on the scope.

Natural Resources committee  Certainly whenever a major project is proposed in traditional territories, the Government of Canada recognizes that it needs to engage with aboriginal people. There is not, at the moment, an official Government of Canada policy that covers all consultation with aboriginal peoples in all situations, but there's a commitment to respect the jurisprudence that you're talking about.

Natural Resources committee  No. It's a direct contribution. A contribution agreement is signed between the agency as a representative of the Crown and the recipient to funding under the participant funding program. So we use a regular contribution agreement.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, we can.

Natural Resources committee  Let me respond quickly to your first point about participant funding. There is no question that there are more asks on the program than there is money. Of course we do our best to allocate the budget that has been made available to us, but there is no question that many applicants would appreciate having a richer program.

Natural Resources committee  Do you mean through the participant funding?

Natural Resources committee  For the program I've just described?

Natural Resources committee  That's not cost-recovered. When Jean-Claude says that the costs of the review panel are cost-recovered, it's the cost of administering the panel itself. The participant funding, which is awarded, all comes out of a special budget that is allocated by Parliament specifically for this purpose, so it's closed fund allocated for this purpose.

Natural Resources committee  I wouldn't want to answer definitively—and we can look into this a little bit further—but I would say that are essentially three groups. There are the two you've described. Probably the majority of people who seek funding and come forward are not arguing vigorously to stop the project or to let it go as proposed.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Harris. Let me start by saying what we do for each of the panels and each of the comprehensive studies. A public notice goes out and invites anybody from the public to bring forward an application. The process is wide open. Any individual, any organization is welcome to bring forward an application.

Natural Resources committee  The only thing I would add to that is this, and it comes back to Mr. Cullen's question as well. Clearly, the further the work of CEMA gets and the multi-stakeholder committee set up by the Alberta government gets in terms of establishing thresholds and frameworks with respect to a variety of issues—land, water, and air, on a regional basis—the more effectively panels will be able to factor these issues in.

Natural Resources committee  I assume you're referring to whether a project is subjected to a screening, a comprehensive study, or a panel assessment.

Natural Resources committee  In a sense, that was the wisdom of Parliament. The legislation lays out that there are certain thresholds over which a project shall be assessed through a comprehensive study. The comprehensive study regulations define those thresholds; the agency simply implements them. The decision on whether or not to move from a comprehensive study to a panel level, which of course is the most public process, rests with the Minister of the Environment.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, that's right.