Question No. 1 Hon. Irwin Cotler: With regard to aboriginal justice, broken down by year from 2006 to the present: (a) how much money was dedicated to the Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS); (b) how much money was devoted to other aboriginal justice programs; (c) with respect to (a) and (b), by program, how much money was spent; (d) by whom were monies in (a) and (b) spent, on what dates, and for what purpose; (e) broken down by province and territory, on what dates were provinces and territories consulted with respect to funding of the AJS for the upcoming year; (f) broken down by province and territory, on what dates were the provi ...[+++]nces and territories consulted with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (g) broken down by province and territory, how much did each request of the government with respect to the AJS; (h) broken down by province and territory, with which First Nations did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (i) with which First Nations groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (j) with which other stakeholders did the government consult with respect to the AJS; (k) which stakeholders were informed of budget decisions relative to the AJS, by what means and on what dates; (l) broken down by province and territory, how much did each request of the government with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (m) broken down by province and territory, with which First Nations did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (n) with which First Nations groups and NGOs did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (o) with which other stakeholders did the government consult with respect to other aboriginal justice programs; (p) how does the government determine stakeholders regarding aboriginal justice concerns; (q) by whom, with what criteria, and when was the AJS budget determined; (r) in what ways, by ...

Guiding principles for the operational programme

On 23 January 2003, the Council adopted conclusions concerning the Commission’s Communication to the Council and the European Parliament setting out a ‘Community Action Plan to integrate environmental protection requirements into the CFP’ with guiding principles, management measures and a work programme, to move towards an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

Ensure that the "Think Small First" approach is the guiding principle, while bearing in mind the three pillars of sustainable development when assessing the impact of existing and forthcoming legislation on SMEs at the Community level; bring forward specific proposals for reducing the burden of EU regulation on SMEs through its programme of simplification, and assessing administrative burdens using the EU common methodology; Bring forward specific provisions to encourage SME growth and development, such as longer transition periods, ...[+++] reduced fees, simplified reporting requirements and exemptions; Ensure that this approach takes into account all SMEs, traditional enterprises as well as enterprises with high growth potential ("gazelles"); Improve the role of the SME Envoy in fostering the application of the "Think Small First" principle in all Community initiatives and programmes; Propose measures for more efficient participation of SMEs in the European standardisation process and take an active part in the implementation; Review the public procurement rules and practices, taking into account the specific needs of SMEs, in order to facilitate their access to public procurement markets and practices;

The guiding principles of the programme - better integration and implementation, a shared responsibility, broadening the range of policy instruments and an international approach - are still valid but need to be better translated into practice by all stakeholders.

= the relationship between European and international standardisation and its relevance to the access of European enterprises to the markets of third countries ; = whether, and under what conditions, in cases where harmonised standards are not yet available, while recognising that harmonised standards are the best guarantee of the essential health and safety requirements, alternatives might provide a degree of assurance of conformity to such essential requirements until harmonised standards are adopted ; = the special role of the public authorities, including the Commission, at the different stages of the standardisation process under the New Approach and, in this context, improvements to the mandating of the European Standards organisa ...[+++]tions to produce the necessary harmonised standards, including the review of mandates and work programmes with particular reference to the priorities to be given to work items; = whilst recognising that the search for consensus must remain the guiding principle, consideration of the scope for voting within the European Standards organisations at an earlier stage in the development of harmonised standards in support of the New Approach, where all the necessary technical elements are present but a final consensus is proving difficult to establish and is delaying the production of a standard; = the use of new technology by the European Standards organisations to provide greater and more immediate transparency on the progress being made in the preparation of harmonised standards; = the role of pre-standardisation research as a means of improving the quality of standards and the efficiency of the process.