Good morning, Madam Chair and members. Thank you very much for this opportunity. We're quite excited to be a part of this review of CEPA 1999. We sincerely hope that this looking back will help us all move forward better.
To begin, I'd like to point out that as reported in 2014, agriculture and agrifood systems are directly responsible for $108.1 billion or 6.6% of Canada's gross domestic product, and provide one in eight jobs in Canada, employing over 2.3 million people.
In preparation for this appearance, I noted that CEPA 1999 says virtually nothing directly about agriculture. I also noted that the Canadian Federation of Agriculture has urged the government to engage the farming community more widely in the CEPA five-year parliamentary review process.
In the current landscape of Canadian manure management law, a great deal can be gained in a short time. Miller Thomson lawyers did a very good body of work that's an overview of this. It points out that virtually nothing in the federal laws controls agriculture nutrient application other than a little bit in the Fisheries Act, specifically section 36. Otherwise, the federal role is primarily advisory and supportive of the regulatory initiatives of the provinces, which vary greatly.
Miller Thomson has been quite active in this space, sounding the alarm for what they see as the coming storm. We need to be prepared for what's happening around us. Farms are being held responsible for their environmental impact. Agriculture is a very large part of the economic landscape of Canada, but it's recognized as also having a very significant environmental footprint.
All governments are responsible for protecting their citizens from the actions of others. This is evident from the many legal proceedings that are going on or have already been decided. It's clearly evident from the impact on airsheds and waterways, that the current systems aren't working well.
An additional point of interest is that in 2014, when Miller Thomson put that presentation on, there were five different groups that did presentations in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia on exactly the same topic, with exactly the same information, trying to reach exactly the same audience, but none of them achieved critical mass where they actually got anything done.
I believe Mr. Doyle and I are well placed to speak to this committee. We've both been active in this space, Mr. Doyle for more than 25 years, specifically addressing soil and water through nutrient extraction and utilization. I've spent more than 10 years working in methane capture and cleaning, building the first anaerobic digester for agriculture in British Columbia, which was the first to scrub the gas and put it in the utility grid in North America. We've both been part of the second on-farm digester to do this. I was supporting the operations and cleaning that up.
Recently, we were able as a team to keep a $3-million research and development pilot plant asset from leaving the country. It was paid for by the Canadian government. It is now placed at this farm where the rest of this technology is. Mr. Jessop referenced the need, that gap in industry. This is now an industry-owned asset. It is a pilot plant that can take ideas from the lab bench, working with academics, to the pilot plant scale, and then directly into commercial scale right outside our door. We welcome the academic community as well as other members that have technologies that can support this.
In large part, we're here today because Mr. Doyle has been recognized by the White House through the U.S. EPA as delivering one of the 10 best technologies available in the country to address these challenges. It should stand out to this committee that in America, the EPA is responsible for looking after these things. Ultimately, regardless of whatever is deferred to the provinces or other bodies such as the CFIA or the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, if there's trouble, it will roll back up to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
I've been serving with Mr. Doyle for more than 18 months now. I recognize that the only way we're going to reach these targets and achieve these solutions is through systemic answers. If we will come together, there are a lot of different technologies out there. They're scattered all over the place. There is no organization. We need some sort of an overarching strategy. I believe this body of work can provide that. If we have some structure, if we have some recognizable mapping of the landscape, then we can start to make a difference and do what Canada is able to do.
We will see a day when the milk that comes out of dairy farms, for example, is a by-product, because progressively, as technology is applied, we're seeing more and more value coming out of what's seen currently as waste.
A couple of recent things have happened. Ontario has just launched a $100-million program to support renewable natural gas programs. California has just mandated management of greenhouse gas emissions with a specific mandate to look after greenhouse gases through renewable natural gas projects.
I believe Mr. Doyle, our witness, has been elevated recently. On June 1, British Columbia signed what's called the Pacific coast climate leadership action plan. It unites three American states with British Columbia to derive solutions of all kinds to address the challenges systemically.
Washington state just passed House Bill 2634, which shifts some of the funding that's been made available to various municipal waste and other streams to deal with environmental challenges over to agriculture, because they recognize a dollar spent addressing challenges, addressing these opportunities in agriculture, is the best possible dollar they can spend. It has far more impact.
We have four recommendations: that the committee look at the new CEPA in a more holistic or, as other witnesses have said, a more whole-of-government way; that the committee glean from what has been done in other jurisdictions and countries to identify the proven best practices and policies to create a balanced approach to environmental protection specific to agriculture that also respects the economic sustainability of Canada; that an overarching policy framework for agriculture become a meaningful component of the CEPA; and that industry-led intelligent business programs like the national industrial symbiosis program, for example, which Canada signed on to in 2012, be used as a mechanism to derive these answers.
Am I under 10 minutes?