I'd start off by saying that protecting our fresh water in Canada is a major effort, and it requires lots of different tools: regulatory, financial, information, science, modelling. It's a big effort.
Right now, we're all operating in our silos. There is not much of a mechanism to share that information across those silos, to develop coordinated advice to support ministers or cabinet; to engage with provinces and territories in a coherent, integrated fashion; and to provide an opportunity to hear and listen to Métis, first nation and Inuit perspectives and to do so in a way that's respectful of indigenous traditions and the need for removing colonial approaches to the way we engage with them—to do a distinctions-based approach.
What we're doing in the Canada water agency is creating that focus, that place to be able to do that, and to be able to do that provides a voice directly to the minister that's not mitigated by others who have to manage or mitigate that through other avenues or vehicles.
We provide an opportunity, a single window, for the provinces or territories to engage with us on questions so that we can then navigate the federal system with them. We won't have all the tools all the time. We won't have all the solutions, but our job is to help figure that out for Canadians, creating a portal site—what we would call a “one window on water” or WOW—to help Canadians navigate the system, to get information and to connect with where the appropriate information and responsibilities lie.
Water is going to be the issue of the 21st century. Water will have pressures from industrial growth, agricultural development and changes in climate change. Having a place that can be a focal point to bring the dialogue together, to provide that advice and to connect with provinces, with first nations, with Métis and with Inuit is something that is, from my perspective, a value added that we can bring to the team.