These notes were written by Lyne Casavant, Cynthia Kirkby and Dominique Valiquet from the Legal Affairs division of the Parliamentary Information and Research Service and Holly Porteous from the International Affairs and Defence division of that same service.

Although welcoming the information given in the DB on those areas which were reinforced in staff, such as European economic governance, the single market and security and justice, notes with concern that staff cuts were made within the Commission to some other Directorates-General such as Enterprise and Industry, Competition, Mobility and Transport, Research and Innovation Eurostat which however make a substantial contribution to t ...[+++]he achievement of the EU's priorities; is also concerned by the adverse impact fewer posts in the areas of administrative support, budgetary management and anti-fraud may have on the swift, regular and effective implementation of EU actions and programmes, especially at a time when the EU’s competences continue to increase and a new Member State joins the Union;

(Return tabled) Question No. 612 Ms. Kirsty Duncan: With respect to changes to environmental programs resulting from the announcements in Budget 2012: (a) specifying how each identified cut is projected to impact the government’s access to scientific information required for the development of public policy, the number of people to be cut, and the amount of money to be cut, what are all areas of scientific research and partnerships to be cut, including, but not limited to, (i) air pollution, (ii) emergency preparedness and response, ( ...[+++]iii) industrial waste, (iv) water quality; (b) what briefing notes, memos, or any other documentation, including, for each, the details of its findings and recommendations, have been provided to the Prime Minister, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of the Environment, their respective Parliamentary Secretaries, their respective Deputy Ministers, and their respective staff members, regarding impacts of research and partnership cuts on the government’s access to scientific information required for the development of public policy; (c) what, in detail, does “sufficient data is available to support the dissemination and validation of the UV Index forecast” mean, (i) what does “we will continue to have enough data for EC to track and report on ozone” mean, (iii) in detail, will the government maintain the integrity of the ozone monitoring program, (iv) in detail, will the government maintain Canadian contributions to the global observing system for climate in support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), (v) what studies have been undertaken to assess the impact of streamlining ozone monitoring on Canada’s international reputation, and what were any findings and recommendations; (d) what briefing notes, memos, or any other documentation, including, for each, the details of its findings and recommendations, have been provided to the Prime Minister, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of the Enviro ...

(Return tabled) Question No. 611 Ms. Kirsty Duncan: With respect to the government’s plans for resource development, as described in the section entitled “Responsible Resource Development” in Chapter 3.2 of Budget 2012: (a) what are all examples of federal environmental laws that are stronger than provincial laws and how will the proposed legislative changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) affect the assessment of environmental impacts of industrial projects that cross provincial borders; (b) what research, action, or investment has the government undertaken to study impacts of the proposed legislative changes to the ...[+++] CEAA on (i) regulatory decision-making, (ii) risk of project-specific and cumulative environmental impacts, (iii) risk mitigation by developers, (iv) Canada’s reputation; (c) what briefing notes, memos, or any other documentation, including, for each, the details of its findings and recommendations, have been provided to the Prime Minister, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of the Environment, their respective Parliamentary Secretaries, their respective Deputy Ministers, and their respective staff members, regarding impacts of the proposed legislative changes to the CEAA on (i) regulatory decision-making, (ii) risk of project-specific and cumulative environmental impacts, (iii) mitigation by developers, (iv) Canada’s reputation; (d) will the proposed legislative changes to the CEAA give any consideration to (i) measuring negative impacts of development, (ii) managing negative impacts of development; (e) by what date will the government bring forth new “legislation to streamline the review process for major economic projects” (Budget 2012, p. 89); (f) what are the projected costs of changes to the CEAA for each province and territory; (g) what assessments of the adequacy of the environmental assessment process in each province and territory have been conducted, (i) what were the dates of any such assessments, (ii) what wer ...

Calls on the Commission to revise its ‘Europe for Citizens’ Programme to improve communication with the average Union citizen and to ensure broad dissemination; notes that while structural support for Brussels-based think-tanks and research institutes is important, such organisations do little to inform individuals other than those who are already informed; calls on the Commission refocus its funding on non-Brussels based regional and local civil society and social partn ...[+++]er organisations and to introduce, in the future, programmes similar to very successful ‘Youth in Action Programme 2007-2013’ to help local and regional governmental authorities to inform their residents of their rights as Union citizens; since proposals for multilingualism should not be limited to the main official/ Member State languages, calls on the Member States to disseminate information about Union citizenship also in regional and minority languages;

Regarding indoor air pollution, there is a need to review current evidence and improve research and data so that we can better understand the issue, set priorities, and assess the need for action at EU level.