Yes, I agree with you on all these points. There are circumstances where pesticides are important and in fact indispensable. In many circumstances they are not a panacea, and they create many unintended and problematic consequences, in some cases worse than the problems they had been intended to address.
For example, some of you may have heard CBC Radio's morning program yesterday. The Current looked at the creation of superweeds, one of which is a species called the giant ragweed that has now appeared in Ontario. Many others are now significant problems in the United States, and they could be expected to occur here as well. They have been created by the use of herbicide-resistant superweeds that in some cases are enormous—10, 12, 15 feet high. They shade resources, use up nutrients and water, and are resistant to the herbicides that created them.
In terms of new species and what we ought to be doing to detect and deal with them, it is tremendously important to coordinate initiatives within federal departments and among provinces. We need to be looking in many areas, chiefly ports obviously, and places where goods are coming into Canada from abroad. We also need to improve our ability to detect species, and as I mentioned in my opening remarks, to differentiate between invasive species and the many alien species. An enormous number of them effectively blend into the biological woodwork.
We need to focus our resources on those that are really invasive and are potential threats. One species I know the committee is interested in is the emerald ash borer, which is a significant invasive species. I know that in the United States, for instance, many jurisdictions are simply giving up on protecting ash trees because the species has spread so rapidly—