Environment Committee on May 28th, 2013

[Jim Brennan]

Well, the 1917 act was built around addressing the specific problem of rapid species decline, the millinery trade acquiring feathers from migratory birds. It really focuses on addressing that particular circumstance.

We've learned in the 100 or so years since that time how biologically diverse and valuable these habitats are for a multitude of species, and that's just on the plant and animal side. Then there's the whole human benefit, and now we're just getting into better understanding of what the economic benefits are.

So I'm not sure that managing it in the context of the migratory bird act is the best place to do it.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

I think I would agree with you, yes.

Is it something that needs to be addressed as a stand-alone, because it is so unique, or is it something that could be wrapped into the Canada Wildlife Act?

I'm trying to figure out how we get this habitat protection. For example, we used to have fish habitat protection in the Fisheries Act. How do we do that for...? If you're going to use migratory birds as the lens through which we can look at wetlands, where can we do this?

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

She's left six seconds for you to respond.

[Greg Siekaniec]

I would think it's some element of a clean water perspective, a clean water act. Keeping water on the landscape and providing all of those functions I described earlier would be an important aspect of that.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Thank you, Ms. Leslie.

We'll move now to Mr. Woodworth for our final question.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

I would like to pick up where Ms. Leslie dropped off, because I've been thinking about this myself.

In particular, I found a reference in a document that was written in 1999, so I'm going to just start by asking if any of you have looked at it recently. It's an issues paper, and actually it just says it's number 1999-1, so I assume that means it was written in 1999. It's called “Wetlands and Government: Policy and Legislation for Wetland Conservation in Canada”, and it's a joint product of Ducks Unlimited, Environment Canada, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council.

Would any of you by chance have looked at that before coming here today?

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

Not recently.

[Jim Brennan]

No.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I won't go into that too much. But I would like to recommend to the committee, Mr. Chair, that if possible, committee members be provided with a copy of it, because although it deals with both federal and provincial legislation and policy, it has some good information in it about our federal concerns and the things we're here to discuss today.

In particular, I was struck by a section on page 1 of that document, which says the following:

Legislation is evolving in two important ways: more explicit reference to wetlands in a range of statutes, and more enabling powers for voluntary stewardship. At the provincial level, new and revised acts—and associated policies and guidelines—with broader environmental objectives are explicitly recognizing wetlands as important ecosystems worthy of special attention.

I think what Ms. Leslie was getting at or asking about is whether you think that perhaps somewhere we should legislatively provide a more explicit recognition of wetlands as important ecosystems worthy of special attention.

May I assume your answer to that would be yes, we should?

[Greg Siekaniec]

My answer to that would be yes, we should.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Okay.

The reason I'm interested in this is because of the federal Species At Risk Act that deals with the protection and restoration and management of habitat for species. I wondered if you might consider that it would be an appropriate place for legislation to explicitly recognize wetlands as important ecosystems worthy of special attention.

[Jim Brennan]

Well, certainly, wetlands are critically important for many of the species found on the threatened or endangered species list.

Again, I would come back to the point I made earlier, which is that we know so much more about wetlands now that goes beyond species management. It has to do with clean drinking water; it has to do with impacts on agricultural practices. It really goes beyond a species.

There are references to the importance of wetlands and the role they play in supporting threatened species, but it wouldn't be our recommendation to manage that through the Species At Risk Act.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I'm just trying to find, as I think Ms. Leslie was, some federal legislative framework, and apart from mentioning the importance of water, I'm not sure you've been able to suggest one. I'll give you one last opportunity if you think there is one that you can suggest for us.

[Jim Brennan]

You may need to cut some new ground here.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

All right.

The other thing I wanted to ask about, and I'm also very interested in, is the issue of a comprehensive wetland inventory. I'm going to keep my questions to Ducks Unlimited here because I think Ms. Guyn mentioned that. I wondered if any province has a comprehensive inventory of its wetlands.

[Jim Brennan]

The Atlantic provinces have fully mapped their wetlands. There's a revision process that has to take place to keep them current. But certainly the Atlantic provinces have the most comprehensive inventory. Ontario has done a reasonable job. We've worked in partnership with the province. Our GIS group, I know, has been working with the government in Quebec. When you move into the Prairies and the west, there's work that has been done, but there's considerably more work that needs to be done out there.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Does anyone have any notion of the cost of completing that on a national basis?

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

I don't remember the final tally, but it is in that report. It's broken out by region as to....

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Which report are you referring to?

[Dr. Karla Guyn]

The one I'm going to table on the....

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Thank you, Mr. Woodworth. I know your time seems to have gone by quickly, but it actually was five minutes.

I want to thank our witnesses for appearing with us.

Dr. Abiola from Olds College, thank you for your appearance by way of video conference this morning.

To our representatives from Ducks Unlimited, again, thank you for your time, and thank you for the great work all of you do in helping to preserve our wetlands.

[Greg Siekaniec]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

With that, we're going to adjourn the meeting for today.