Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time. It is certainly a pleasure to be back in the House. If they say “your house is your home” I guess I am back home. I have been away the last weeks attending to the my new son, Cade Andrew, who was born on April 17.
The issue is very important on the heels of the recent tragedy at North Battleford and certainly last year's tragedy in Walkerton. It is critical to the health of all Canadians, and is something that is very close to my heart.
As a parent with a 22 month old and a newborn and knowing that contaminants have a more serious effect on the newborn and the elderly, I am very concerned.
Having been an alderman in the Village of Perth-Andover, I am also familiar with the issues from a municipal perspective. They are very serious, and all municipalities take them very seriously. In funding crunches, I also understand the administration and construction of the municipal facilities.
As an engineer for the last nine years, I worked in the environmental sector, specifically in the area of water quality, water and waste water quality. For the last five years, I have been president and/or vice president of the New Brunswick Environment Industries Association. One of its goals is educating the population of New Brunswick on environmental issues.
I would also add that as part of that association I was allowed to see a lot of the Canadian technologies, as far as drinking water goes. Companies such as ADI in the riding of Fredericton, Zenon and Trojan Technologies in Ontario have internationally renowned technologies on clean water.
Last June I also helped initiate and co-chaired a clean water conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick, entitled “Your Drinking Water: Ensuring Its Safety”. Three hundred people attended from across Atlantic Canada to talk about drinking water issues. The goal of that conference was to educate the people on the perils of unsafe drinking water, how to remediate unsafe drinking water if they ran into that situation in their communities and how to protect their communities against unsafe drinking water. It was very much an educational conference, and I am proud to announce that I will be doing it again this September.
As members can see, from a parent's perspective, from a municipal politician's perspective, from a professional perspective and certainly from a personal perspective, this is one of the issues I feel very strongly about and have some background in. In fact part of my platform during the last campaign was clean water issues. One of the reasons I came to Ottawa was my strong beliefs in clean water.
On the specific motion, I do not agree with the honourable intent of the motion. It is an excellent motion but I have some concerns. The hon. member's goals are very honest and productive for society in Canada.
As recently as last night, at, I assume, a multiparty dinner, the leader of the PC Party mentioned that one of the policy areas on which he would like to co-operate with the official opposition was specifically in the area of a renewed or healthy federalism, which he said was to respect the rights of the provinces. Some would see it as flying in the face of a renewed federalism, which is respecting the rights of provincial jurisdictions.
I will turn to our Liberal record on water quality and some of the initiatives that we have undertaken. In the 2000 Liberal election platform, Opportunity for All , we committed to addressing the issue of safe drinking water by funding improvements to municipal water and wastewater systems through the infrastructure Canada program.
We also committed to working with provincial, territorial and municipal governments to create the first building code for municipal water and wastewater facilities. Such a code would help improve the ability of municipalities to meet water quality standards.
In the 2000 budget the Liberal government committed $2.65 billion over six years to fund improvements to infrastructure across Canada. We created the $25 million green municipal enabling fund and the $100 million green municipal investment fund to help municipalities improve energy efficiency, water and wastewater treatment, solid waste treatment and public transportation.
The Liberal government is providing leadership on the protection of clean drinking water through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. As recently as May 1, council members agreed that the protection of surface and groundwater quality was a priority. The council agreed to collaborate on water research, to share best management practices, to accelerate the development of water quality guidelines and to link existing water quality monitoring networks to provide comprehensive access to timely information.
The government has shown a commitment to safe drinking water for all people in Canada by focusing on stronger national guidelines for water quality and by strengthening the role of the National Water Research Institute. The institute has an excellent well water monitoring and modelling program, that it is working on now, by funding improvements to municipal water and wastewater systems, and by investing in research and development on better land use practices.
One of the major issues is the healthy federalism that I spoke about. We have to consult with the provinces to see if they support us in taking the lead on this issue. Do they want us to establish enforceable national drinking water standards?
I understand the need to address this issue and I respect the sincere intent of the motion. I commend the hon. member for Fundy—Royal for his quick action and for his attempt to find a quick solution to the serious situation. We must consult, liaise and ultimately, in the words of his own leader, respect the provinces.
Although I have concerns regarding the healthy federalism in consulting with the provinces, it is an important enough solution. I am proud to say to my constituents and to my family that I will vote in support of the motion.
