Environment Committee on Feb. 27th, 2024

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks again to the witnesses.

I'm going to start with Mr. Miltenberger.

Last week I met with Steven Nitah of the Łutsël K’é Dene nation. He's a past chief. He also told me about the collaborative process that had been used up in your area.

Is that a process that you have a patent on or that you can share with the committee as we look at the Canada Water Act coming up for review? That collaborative process might be very valuable for us to consider.

[J. Michael Miltenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Nitah and I were MLAs together as well, and we've been doing work together. He was involved [Technical difficulty—Editor] when we negotiated the Thaidene Nene National Park, so the political will is there.

It's transportable to anywhere, which is why CLI is going around where we are with that model. It's because it gets together two orders of government that don't normally talk to each other. First nations—

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Is there something you can submit?

He also mentioned that Michael McLeod had been involved, and he's an MP as well now.

[J. Michael Miltenberger]

Yes. We have many documents on the CIER website that we can capture for you and share with the committee.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you so much. I'm dying to see it myself. I said that's a model we could all learn from, so thank you.

Mr. Petelle and Ms. Stewart, my last question is to you.

First of all, congratulations to Lorne Hepworth on being inducted into the Agricultural Hall of Fame. Your predecessor at CropLife did some incredible work—work on the Guelph statement in particular, on the sustainability of agriculture and what's done to make sure that the right amount of product is being put on the plants, whether it's fertilizer, pesticides or control products.

I heard in our last meeting and now again today that monitoring water involves more than just water; it also involves soil monitoring and air monitoring. Is that something you can help us with in terms of technology? Is there some direction you could point us as a committee that we could include in our report?

[Pierre Petelle]

From a scientific perspective, water monitoring to look for point source pollution is a very good surrogate for determining whether or not the measures in your regulatory structure, your on-field buffer strips and your vegetative strips are working. I think water monitoring gives you a very good picture of whether those things are working or not.

Soil monitoring is usually more to give the farmer the information they need. I mentioned that per square foot, it tells them exactly what the nutrient needs are right down to the smallest part of their field. The data needs are different, but there are technologies and there are companies that are being invested in that are looking at exactly how to measure that at a field level in real time and give the data to your phone.

It's an incredibly innovative time in agriculture right now.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

These details we could maybe have included in a footnote in our report. It would be helpful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you very much. Thank you to the witnesses for your insights and information.

Go ahead, Ms. Collins.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I wanted to test to see if my microphone is working—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I think it is now.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

—and if I could potentially use my last minute before we finish.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Sure, go ahead with a very quick question, because you did cede your time.

Anyway, go ahead.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Yes, rather than asking them questions, since we're done with the witnesses, I was wondering if maybe we could unanimously support the motion to bring the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to appear—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes, of course. Do we unanimously...?

I think you won't find any objection, because—

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I have a quick tweak to add the department officials for the second hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

—I've spoken to the minister's office, and he's set to come on the 19th.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

It's all done. It will be with the officials as well, obviously, because that's how we normally do it.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Is it set for two hours?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I don't know if the minister will be here for two hours, but he's been invited, and it's in his calendar.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

How about the expenses for our trip?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Those have not been issued by the process that tabulates all of this.

Anyway, going back to you, Ms. Collins, yes, we all agree with your motion. There's no objection to your motion, because it's de facto going to happen anyway.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Wonderful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Ms. Pauzé, did you have something to add?

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Yes. I wanted to remind you that there will be a subcommittee meeting on Thursday.