Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories had taken part in the initial discussions with the federal government. A number of years ago, the Department of Environment had taken a position that I think with the support of the Department of National Defence that materials containing PCBs such as paint, should not be disposed of in landfill sites. Subsequent to that, the Department of National Defence asked the Department of Environment and the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs for an exemption for that national policy so that the Department of National Defence could look at using landfill sites to dispose of materials that contain PCBs, for instance, buildings and other infrastructure that were left on site mostly by the U.S. government.
Our government has always questioned the scientific basis on which those decisions were made, but our view has been the materials should all be taken off site, should have remained the responsibility of the Government of the United States and that all materials should have been restored to the original conditions as much as possible. The Canadian government, however, a couple of years ago, for a few million dollars took up the responsibility for cleaning up those sites and released the U.S. government from all further responsibility. Having done that, the Department of National Defence is now asking again if they can be exempt from this policy so they can take the cheapest way possible of disposing of these materials, which is to use landfill sites.
The Minister of Environment, in the meeting we held as Ministers of Environment last week in Inuvik, Christine Stewart said she had not seen and is not considering any change to that policy at this time and would not be complying with any request to make a change in policy at this time. Thank you.