Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it seems that the environment minister is another big one that did not get away from the Irving fishing lodge scandals. While he was staying at the lodge, we doubt the minister raised Irving's chronic history of dumping effluent into the water. We also doubt he raised the fact that of the five times Irving has been caught polluting, it has been fined only once. NAFTA's environment commission is demanding a full inquiry into Irving's polluting ways but our environment minister has strangely always remained silent and has refused to take a stand. Would the minister put an end to any perceived conflict of interest and agree today to support the NAFTA environment commission's inquiry into the Irving pollution? Hon. David Anderson (Minister of the Environment, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, no enforcement decisions come before me as minister. Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, enforcement officers are responsible for enforcement actions, not the minister. Departmental policy is that I am only informed after the event, when the information is being publicly released to all members of the House as well as myself.
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