Thank you.
Mr. Chair, the last couple of slides talk a little bit about the current state of policy affairs in Canada. I'm sure committee members will know that Canada does in fact have an existing federal wetlands policy. There are two components to that. There is the policy document, which was prepared in 1991, ten years after Canada joined the Ramsar Convention, the international convention that was signed in the 1970s to protect wetlands of global significance. There is also an implementation guide for land managers that federal government staff use in managing wetlands on their land.
The document itself is, in many respects, quite relevant today. It talks about many of the things that Ducks Unlimited Canada has spoken to you about on this occasion and on previous visits to this committee: the ecological and socio-economic functions of wetlands, as well as the pure economic values that are provided by wetlands on the landscape. The federal wetland policy, as you would imagine, applies to federal lands only. However, about 30% of all wetlands right across Canada fall on federal lands, so it is a significant policy for the protection of wetlands in Canada.
The next thing I want to talk to you about is the core elements of that federal wetlands policy. It's built around seven core strategies, and those are listed on your screens in front of you: developing public awareness of wetlands, managing wetlands on federal lands and waters as well as in other programs, promoting wetlands conservation in federally protected areas, enhancing cooperation with other levels of government and with NGOs, conserving wetlands of significance, ensuring a sound scientific basis for policy, and promoting international actions. Of course, when this policy was developed, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act was relatively new, and this was one of the hallmarks and showpieces of the Canadian wetlands policy at the time it was prepared in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
On a quick overview of provincial wetlands policies in Canada, Karla has already talked about the programs that are in place in the Atlantic provinces. This just gives you sort of a quick overview of how these programs work and which provinces are doing what to protect wetlands.
The Atlantic provinces, we think, have a very good set of policies in place, particularly Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. In Newfoundland there are specific policy directives that guide development in and around wetlands, and there's a different set of circumstances in that province.
Moving a little bit further west to Ontario and Quebec, as we mentioned earlier, there are fairly dramatic losses on those two landscapes. In Ontario, in particular, there has been about a 72% loss. However, under provincial regulation, only one-third of all wetlands are protected; those are classified as provincially significant. Then there is a variety of policy statements that guide municipalities and the province with respect to wetland protection, with no mitigation sequence in Quebec and Ontario. Quebec is actually in the process of developing a new and more comprehensive wetland policy, and we'll be very interested to work with them to see what that looks like as it develops in the next year or so.
Moving to the west, particularly the prairie provinces, there is no comprehensive wetlands policy in Manitoba, but there are about 12 different acts that address water and water management, with no mitigation sequence, with the exception of highways and infrastructure.
Moving into Saskatchewan, Alberta, and B.C., again there is no comprehensive policy in Saskatchewan. There is an interim wetlands policy that was developed in Alberta, and work is progressing quite rapidly toward a more permanent wetlands policy, which we also expect sometime in the next 12 months. In British Columbia there is no really comprehensive wetlands policy and no mitigation sequence, and there has been quite a dramatic loss, primarily in the developed areas, which is where certainly the bulk of coastal wetlands are located in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
What can government do to address wetlands loss? We have raised a number of issues in our brief, and this takes us to the last slide in our presentation. One is to implement laws and regulations that protect the remaining wetlands habitats in Canada.
We have about 28%...approximately less on aggregate left in the country, and we believe steps should be taken to protect those remaining wetlands on the landscape.
Next is to create conservation offset programs that are supported by mitigation sequences. There are instances where wetlands loss will be unavoidable, but there should be a mitigation sequence that is followed right across the country to avoid, minimize, and mitigate wetlands loss, creating a national wetlands conservation program that could fund market-based incentives for private landowners to retain habitat, particularly on the working landscape.
On restoration of lost and degraded habitats, we would like to see significant net gains in wetlands habitat. We continue to lose habitats at an unsustainable pace, and we believe steps need to be taken to mitigate for that activity.
I have two final points. Strong science and planning efforts need to underpin and drive decision-making. We need to protect our critical natural habitats in boreal Canada, particularly the candidate areas for national wildlife status in the Northwest Territories.
That's it for our presentation. We appreciate your indulgence and the extra time you have given us, Mr. Chair, and we would be happy to turn it back to you to answer any questions you might have.