Environment committee  As regards the social utility trust, everyone is familiar with the concept of trusts. In the Centre-du-Québec region, we do not have conservation organizations that can buy or accept lands. That is a problem, particularly for the purpose of implementing our federal ecological don

Environment committee  The value of wetlands is really an essential piece of information. Several national studies have been conducted in Canada. There has been a survey of approximately 250 studies on the economic value of wetlands. As I mentioned earlier, the estimated value, and it is a large estima

Environment committee  That is an excellent question. I believe the first choice is still the municipal level, but wetlands must be taken into consideration in land use planning. Municipalities currently use urban development plans. RCMs, the regional county municipalities, use what are called land us

Environment committee  That is correct. The Conseil régional de l'environnement de Laval is working on this plan. We have just submitted the regional vision for Centre-du-Québec. We worked with all municipal councillors and all mayors in the region to develop a vision. Now the municipalities are being

Environment committee  The cartographic tool is the basis of the decision-making process. Ducks Unlimited Canada, in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, the offices of Ducks Unlimited in other provinces and other players, is currently using geomatic tools to produce satellite images f

Environment committee  That is a question that I would hesitate to answer because, under the Constitution of Canada, matters pertaining to the environment are not included. This is quite a vague management responsibility. Some data are included at the transborder and international level, but many envir

Environment committee  That is quite a complex matter. For all these reasons, as Mr. Garand mentioned, and given our situation, it is very important to protect wetlands in urban areas. However, that leads to urban sprawl. We encroach on agricultural areas, and that causes conflict between the urban env

Environment committee  We have been very lucky because the grant applications that we have filed have been approved. Last year, however, our applications were affected by budget cuts, particularly to the Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. I would also like to add that research is also co

Environment committee  Indeed, as we mentioned earlier, we need basic research, particularly in order to establish a national wetland inventory. If we want to know what is happening to our wetlands, we must have a starting point. I believe that basic research also includes the necessary monitoring of o

Environment committee  Here in the Centre-du-Québec region, the Agricultural Operations Regulation, the AOR, limits the expansion of farming operations. We have water quality problems. However, although it has been proven that agriculture contributed to the pollution of the watercourses, the AOR does n

Environment committee  I am going to cite the Lac Saint-Pierre Biosphere Reserve as an example. We have an enormous problem: a moratorium had to be called on the yellow perch, which is a very common species of fish in our waterways. That species is now very rare in Lac Saint-Pierre, and the reason for

Environment committee  That is not currently the case. However, you raise an important point because wetlands are excellent water filters in Quebec. I am talking about the drinking water and freshwater used by many communities. If wetlands disappeared, our water would no longer be adequately filtered a

Environment committee  In Quebec, wetlands are considered under the Environment Quality Act in assessments conducted by the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, the BAPE. However, if the Canadian government effectively enforced its environmental assessments, wetlands would have to be consi

Environment committee  Quebec is recognized internationally thanks to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement. I am not concerned about Quebec, but an assessment should perhaps be conducted for the other provinces based on more thorough research on the impact of the changes that have been

Environment committee  That is an excellent and important question. When a recession occurs, development tends to take precedence over collective goods. However, you have to consider that a wetland provides society with ecological goods and services worth $10,000 per hectare. If that $10,000 per hectar