Environment Committee on June 11th, 2009

[Dr. John O'Connor]

Yes.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

How quickly do you think an acceptable study could be planned, set up, and implemented?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

I would say over the next six to twelve months we could have one up and running.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Time has expired.

Mr. Braid, you're up.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start with Dr. O'Connor, if I could.

Thank you very much, Dr. O'Connor, for being here.

[Dr. John O'Connor]

You're very welcome.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

I certainly appreciate the importance you place on advocacy. I think that's central to any physician's role.

With respect to providing medical care to the residents of Fort Chipewyan, currently you're providing on-call care and you visit every six weeks. Is that correct?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

No. I visit Fort McKay every six weeks, but I'm on call for Fort Chip.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

How many other physicians are currently providing medical care in Fort Chip?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

One, my successor.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Do any of your predecessors or your successor share similar concerns, perspectives? Are you the first to make these discoveries?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

Because of Fort Chip's unique location, I have not had the opportunity to speak to any of my predecessors. Dr. Griffin, my successor, is keeping a log and a very close eye on the health issues he's encountering, including cancerous and non-cancerous illnesses.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

So as far as you're aware, none of your predecessors....

[Dr. John O'Connor]

Other than reading what they documented in the files in the nursing station.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

With respect to drinking water, are there concerns with the quality of the drinking water?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

At the moment there's a boil water advisory. I believe this is the second in a couple of years. I don't know why. We weren't able to find out fully.

There's always been a concern, prior to my coming to the community, about the water, especially with the water quality, the taste: the clear, cold, fresh water in comparison with...over the last 10 to 15 years, how it had deteriorated.

I believe the water treatment plant has been looked at in the community and found to be adequate, although I don't have the documentation on that. But I've been assured and reassured that that's the case.

So from the community's perspective, they've chosen over probably the last 10 years not to drink the water.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

In an earlier question, I think Mr. Calkins referred to the unfortunate higher incidence of diabetes among the aboriginal population. I'm not a scientist or a physician, but as I understand it, one of the reasons for that unfortunate higher incidence is the role of genetics. Have you considered what role, if any, genetics may play with respect to the issues you're speaking about in Fort Chip?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

I've questioned it, and I've made my best effort, with the documentation we have, to see whether it could be a major player. We've had no expert advice on paper, but in discussions with consultants, the array of illness in the community makes it much less likely to be a big issue. It could play a part. That's why I sort of left it out there as a question.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Finally, with respect to the guidelines for eating fish at Fort Chip and the suggestion to eat fish no more than once per week, can you help me understand, as a lay person, as a Canadian, what the differences are in terms of the guidelines for me eating fish on a weekly basis? I believe those guidelines exist for everyday Canadians as well. What are the differences?

[Dr. John O'Connor]

That's a big area. Wild fish would probably be a lot better for you than farmed fish. I'd probably steer away from tuna.

We could talk about this for the next half hour. But in terms of Fort Chip, specifically, there never was an advisory before the analysis was revealed in November of 2007.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Nikiforuk, your perspective on the oil sands is critical. I'm just trying to understand what your suggestions or your recommendations are with respect to the ongoing development of the oil sands, how it might be sustainable, and quite frankly, because you seem to be advocating this, how we replace our carbon-based energy system in the world.

[Andrew Nikiforuk]

I have a number of suggestions. My critique of the rapid development of the tar sands, really, has to do with the manner in which it has taken place. We have developed this resource too fast. It is a very critical, very strategic resource for this country as well as for North America. However, we are developing it at such a rate that we are creating environmental problems that we do not yet have the technology to solve.

In terms of solutions, my solutions get about as radical as the recommendations of former Premier Peter Lougheed: slow down. Where is the fiscal accountability for this project? The rapid development of this project has been driven by low corporate taxes and by low royalties in Alberta. That's not coming from me. That's coming from the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in their most recent report on oil sands development. What problems are we solving globally by rapidly developing this resource? None. Again, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, we are solving no global problems. We are making no place more secure. We're simply putting more bitumen and synthetic crude on the market.

I think what former Premier Peter Lougheed said--and the man is a true conservative--was let us slow down. Let us establish real fiscal accountability with this resource. Let us do one project at a time. And let us deal with the environmental and public health issues that rapid development has created.

We have approved, since 1996, more than 100 tar sands projects. Those are mining projects and steam plants. And we have done that without adequate safeguards. We have not been proactive. You cannot exploit a resource as carbon intensive, as water intensive, and as capital intensive as bitumen without making consummate investments in renewable energy resources across this country. Now we are stuck with the stigma of producing dirty oil, and I would argue that it is a fair description. It is one that we have brought upon ourselves, because as a people, we have not been proactive.

Perhaps the last thing I would say here is that we are repeating the mistakes of the past. We are natural resource producers and developers. That's what we do. That's what Canadians have always done. We cut down trees, we dig up rocks, and we export them. We don't add value to them. We exported furs to Europe. We did not export fur hats. Why are we exporting raw bitumen now? That is where all the money and all the value is to be made and created. Again, this is another position of former Premier Peter Lougheed: add value to the resource.

So we have failed in a number of areas. We have opportunities now to address these. But I doubt we will until, first, we have a national conversation about the pace and scale of development in the tar sands, and, second, we impose some fiscal accountability on this resource, which we have not done yet.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you. Your time has expired.

Mr. Watson, you have the floor.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses, of course, for appearing in our study of the oil sands and its effects on water.

One of the things I like to do, obviously, for some of our witnesses is to have a sense of who they are a little bit.

Mr. Nikiforuk, do I have that pronounced properly?

[Andrew Nikiforuk]

That's correct.