Environment committee  What upsets me is the idea of assigning an economic value to a wetland. A wetland is a life. How much is each individual around this table worth? Will we assign a figure to someone here around the table because he has a big house, three cars, a propriety or something like that? W

Environment committee  I would like to continue in the same vein as Ms. Bellemare. We have visited all the wetlands in our area. We have been updating information every two years since 2000. We submit it to the Government of Quebec and the City of Laval and we observe what you saw in the tables. We j

Environment committee  There is a national organization called Ducks Unlimited Canada. There are many small local and regional organizations, and we can develop a wetland inventory and characterization with them. If I had to set a priority for Canada, I would choose to cover the entire southern portion

Environment committee  We have to conserve what we have left before thinking about restoring anything. Restoration is a need and a necessity today. There is a tendency in all developing municipalities across Canada to put pipes underground, to pave roads, to build parking lots, to channel all that into

Environment committee  There has to be development. I am not opposed to development. I am a biologist, but I also have training in architecture. We must do a lot more thinking about integrating all the development models. Whether it be residential, commercial, industrial or institutional development, w

Environment committee  I do not have a crystal ball. Although I do not wish for it, I am quite convinced that I may see the Rivière des Mille Îles run dry in my lifetime if we follow through with the development currently on the table at the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal. Continuing to develop

Environment committee  There are Laval, Terrebonne, Mascouche, Lorraine, Rosemère, Saint-Eustache, and even Sainte-Marthe, Saint-Joseph and Sainte-Thérèse.

Environment committee  No. Saint-Jérôme draws from the Rivière du Nord. That is already a lot. Approximately 400,000 to 450,000 people currently supply themselves with drinking water from the Rivière des Mille Îles and now they want to add a pool of some 150,000 people. Do the math: if each person con

Environment committee  You talk a lot about local management. I would say that the city of Laval is one community or region, but when you add the population of Montérégie, Montreal, Laval, Laurentides and Lanaudière, you realize that 80% to 85% of the population lives in that geographic area. That is w

Environment committee  That person must have put together a poor file.

Environment committee  You are venturing onto a dangerous topic on which I will not offer an opinion. Canada, Quebec and the major metropolitan areas and municipalities should work together and make it a national objective to protect 30% of our lands. The Nagoya Protocol signed by a number of countrie

Environment committee  Protecting or increasing the number of wetlands could have an impact on climate change, but that is not the solution we should adopt. We are headed in the wrong direction if we think that natural environments, both forests and wetlands, will reduce climate change. To really addre

Environment committee  In our jargon in biology, wetlands are nature's kidneys, just as forests are nature's lungs. Water flows inside plants, and it is the plants that work for us, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Plants capture all kinds of pollutants and even some oils. All major urban centres toda

Environment committee  It might be difficult to adapt that act to very large urban centres, but they must definitely be protected. As regards watershed management, we see that there is a shortage of wetlands in many areas, whereas wetlands help maintain water quality and recharge the water table. Water

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize for being late. There was a major accident on Highway 50 and we were caught in a traffic jam. I am here today with Marie-Christine Bellemare, who is a biologist. She is a project officer with us and covers wetlands and all natural areas in Laval