It's a matter of education. Part of the national conservation plan has to be educating Canadians. Someone asked what a federal group, like you, can do to help the environment and deal with things like wetlands.
You're going to pay, guys. You're paying. What was your tab for the Manitoba flood in 2011? Was it hundreds of millions? You're paying. At the end of the day, the buck is going to stop with you to pay for, what, 90% of disasters? Are you going to be reactive and pay at the end of the game when the damage is done or are you going to be proactive? You can fund this proactively.
The energy sector makes it a bit complex in Alberta with the sage grouse. That's a tougher one in a way, but the same principle is going to apply. If you want to stop flooding, there are ways to do that proactively that, I would argue, could be cheaper than paying to fix the damage at the end would be.
Time will tell. We need to test it and measure it to see if that's possible. We believe it is, but it has not been tried aggressively. If you want to change any of this, you have to connect to the people. If you're going to go and threaten that landowner and tell him he can't have cows out there....
My first job was looking for burrowing owls in Saskatchewan. No one would talk to me until I told them I was a farm kid and I wasn't from the federal government and I was just there to work with them. They love the owls, but they're terrified of losing control of their land. It is all going to take funding.
You folks collect taxes, and at the end of the day, you have to pay for damages from floods. Do you want to recover an endangered species? Do you know how expensive doing that is? It's nearly impossible to do. Proactive is what we have to be. You guys are going to be paying the tab at the end of the day. Why don't you pay it at the beginning of the day? It's going to be a smaller tab and there's a way to do it.
I love the panel idea from Dr. Boyce. We need you to invest. If you want this, you can have it. You have to make an investment, and it should be smart. Panels are a great way to channel investment to smart outcomes, but we know more about how to do this all now. If you're going to pay at the end of the day, you might as well pay at the beginning and pay less.