Environment committee  We certainly have seen lots of examples of that in places like Winnipeg, where we've seen some really big commitments to doing wetlands as part of stormwater treatment approaches. It's actually increasing the value of the housing market because people want to be able to live and see water, so having natural-looking wetlands within development complexes has been hugely beneficial within many places.

Environment committee  A core part of all of the work we've done from the policy perspective is really identifying the need to keep the wetlands on the landscape. Wetland policies need to look at all the wetlands that exist on the landscape and identify those that need to be protected. There are instances across the country where you have unregulated and unrestricted drainage happening, and it's contributing to losses of wetlands.

Environment committee  That was a report from the Suzuki foundation, pulled together, and they looked at all of the combined values of all the services you get from wetlands. They're talking about phosphorous removal. They're talking about recreational opportunities. They're talking about flood storage capacity.

Environment committee  I think there's been substantive progress in the thought and the deliberation around it. I'm much more optimistic about where it's going to get us, but I think there are some concerns when we look out longer term.

Environment committee  We think that loss is happening from a multitude of different sources. Urban expansion, urban development, and industrial expansion are eating into the wetlands and having an impact there. There is some ongoing loss on the agricultural landscape, so those are the main drivers of change of wetlands.

Environment committee  Could I add a little thing to that?

Environment committee  I think the key element is creating some certainty around it. We talked about wetland protection policies, and the key element, as Jim mentioned, is the mitigation sequence, where you're trying to avoid, minimize, and then compensate for any loss. I think if we can embed those kinds of elements into any policy, it enables government to meet their mandates, but it also provides certainty to development.

Environment committee  That's a project we're working on to increase the overall awareness of wetlands and wetland conservation issues in the geographic area that the fund is targeted to, which is sort of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. We have a number of different elements within it. Some of them are directly related to some restoration activities on wetlands.

Environment committee  That's a broad question.

Environment committee  I think there are a number of primary ways in which they do that. First and foremost is in terms of removing nutrients and sediments and preventing those elements from entering into the lake and causing the disruption of the lake ecosystem; that's the primary one. In terms of the value of the wetlands, they are critical habitats.

Environment committee  Our assessment is that we're continuing to lose the battle and that the wetlands are disappearing off the landscape faster than we can put them back on the landscape. We're restoring several thousands of acres of wetlands every year in Ducks Unlimited activities. There are a number of other people who work on the landscape doing conservation work.

Environment committee  Thanks, Jim. Wetlands are nature's water treatment plants. Abundant, intact wetlands remove phosphorous and provide important services that reduce the amount—

Environment committee  Wetlands are nature's water treatment plants. Abundant, intact wetlands remove phosphorous and provide important services that reduce the amount of other impurities that enter our streams, rivers and ultimately the Great Lakes. Ducks Unlimited Canada recently completed a research project to evaluate the impacts of wetland loss in the Lake Simcoe Watershed.