Evidence of meeting #15 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ontario.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Environmental Management Branch, Government of Ontario
At a very surficial level, yes, I think you've captured it accurately.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Again, that's like the ALUS program in Norfolk County, which is working, and the New York City water supply example is working. Would you say, Mr. Richardson, that this is the kind of programming that we should see on a much larger scale across Ontario and indeed across the country?
Director, Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Environmental Management Branch, Government of Ontario
I echo Mr. Wilcox's comments that it's a very popular program. It does good work and it's very expensive. Part of the challenge going forward is finding an economic model. If you turn it into that kind of incentive program, you quickly get out of my level of expertise and start going into trade issues. You have to talk with somebody who knows more than I do about the economic model associated with that.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Again, in a previous life I was involved with these kinds of programs, and all countries have agreed under the WTO that those are green box programs. So we're very safe on the trade side because the U.S. and Europe have had this kind of programming for decades now. Canada is the only country that does not. I think there's lots of room to grow there.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
We have about two minutes.
Mr. McKay, do you want to take a crack at two minutes?
Conservative
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
I thought it would be for your edification, Chair, that I looked up the purposes of this charter. It states:
The purposes of this Charter are to conserve the levels and flows of the Great Lakes and their tributary and connecting waters; to protect and conserve the environmental balance of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem; to provide for cooperative programs,... etc.
It looks like level means quality and quality means level. There doesn't seem to be much difference in the minds of the people who wrote this charter.
The threshold is five million gallons, or 19 million litres. Can you give me an example of that in Ontario?
Director, Ministry of the Environment, Integrated Environmental Policy Division, Government of Ontario
Mr. Chairman, largely those would be municipal sources coming out of the Great Lakes. For example, the city of London draws its water from Lake Huron.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
When the city of Toronto drew that water out of Lake Ontario to cool off all of the towers, is that an example of that kind of process?
Director, Ministry of the Environment, Integrated Environmental Policy Division, Government of Ontario
They would have had to seek a permit.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
I want to thank our witnesses for being with us.
Mr. Richardson.
Director, Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Environmental Management Branch, Government of Ontario
Mr. Chair, may I make a slight correction?
To Mr. Woodworth's point, the 23,500 dealt with the timeframe 2005 to 2013. I misspoke.
Conservative
Director, Ministry of Agriculture & Food, Environmental Management Branch, Government of Ontario
Projects.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
Thank you for that clarification.
Again, I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today. Thank you for your patience with us and for the great information you shared, both in your opening statements and in your responses to questions.
We're going to suspend just for a minute or two, and we'll reconvene in camera to take care of some committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
