Mr. Speaker, earlier this year there was an agreement amongst Ministers to agree to a complete ban on land filling waste with materials that have a concentration of PCBs in excess of 50 parts per million. We had originally suggested that more thought be given to this before implementation, however, it was implemented. Now, the Department of National Defence is asking for an exemption, so they can take these buildings and put them into landfill sites since we know that most of these have concentrations as high as 10,000 parts per million. There is no scientific evidence that shows that there is any leaking of these toxins into the environment when you leave them mostly intact.

There is a suggestion that it can be done in an environmentally acceptable way. The Department of National Defence is seeking an exemption from the Minister of Environment at the federal level. They are engaging in discussions with aboriginal organizations to seek potential landfill sites. They are looking for people with a degree to help them dispose of these materials and landfill sites. They are prepared to accept liability for the possible future contamination as a result of this undertaking and would agree to do the monitoring. Thank you.