I think you would have to look at all the highest-risk environmental areas initially. You would have to look at where you can make the biggest impact and use incentives for the people managing the landscape in those sensitive areas to adopt practices to protect them.
In the case of wetland restoration and water storage, there are some challenges. In fact, I have been challenged by some farmers who have heard me on the radio talk about wetland restoration, and they're saying, “Your organization's against drainage.” I'm not against drainage. I think drainage is an essential tool for producers. But there are farmers who don't feel they should have to hold water for anybody. The challenge for the producers is the economic signals they're getting in regard to seeding and cropping every arable acre that's in their control, if possible.
If we were to give them different economic signals through an ALUS program that gave them compensation or just removed the property taxes from that land they're putting into conservation as a simple incentive, that would cost very little and it would be a good start.
I think we could take a staged approach. Obviously, at times like this our public treasuries are provincially and federally challenged to take on new initiatives. Maybe we need to take a staged approach and not move into this all in one year. Through that slow, staged process people will learn how they can be part of this.