Alors, vont-ils suivre les recommandations du commissaire? Vont-ils être encore une fois négligents et irresponsables?
Ms. Michelle Rempel (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague opposite of what the Prime Minister said yesterday, and that is we understand that the fundamental principle of our environmental review system and our environment regime is the polluter pay principle.
We are committed to reviewing this on an ongoing basis. That said, we also know that we need to have strong measures in place to ensure that these spills do not occur.
That means, if members look in our responsible resource development package, they can see the measures we have put in place: our government, doubling the amount of pipeline inspections; more rigorous standards for tanker safety. This is our government and this is the real record that we have on environment protection.
Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians would have liked the parliamentary secretary to stand up honestly and say “We have done nothing about liability, and we are ashamed.� I think that is what they would have wanted to hear.
Conservatives rammed through the laws that destroy environmental protection, but they will not do anything to fix the nuclear liability problem. The Fukushima disaster cost nearly $200 billion.
New Democrats have warned them. Experts have warned them. Now the Environment Commissioner is warning them. When will Conservatives start listening and do something, before pushing Canadian families off this dangerous liability cliff?
Mr. David Anderson (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board, CPC): Mr. Speaker, this is just bizarre.
We brought the bill forward to raise the nuclear liability limits, and the NDP members were the ones who filibustered it and did everything they could to prevent it from passing.
When it comes to liability limits for tankers, the Commissioner of the Environment said yesterday:
Canada's amounts are absolutely in line with the international system. In setting those international standards, Canada has been a leader.