Under the new environmental assessment provisions, environmental impacts will be limited to the impacts on fish, aquatic species protected by the legislation, and migratory birds—with the exception of federal land. That scope is extremely limited and will allow for a laisser-faire approach and a lack of assessment, which may have a major impact on future projects and environmental protection.
Much has been said about the Fisheries Act. Provisions on fish habitat will be amended so as to protect only fish that is important to trade, aboriginals or recreational fishing. The provisions of Bill C-38 radically reduce the notion of habitat protection.
Nature Québec fully agrees with the letter 650 Canadian scientists sent to Prime Minister Harper to complain about the amendments to the Fisheries Act. They define habitat as "the aquatic and/or terrestrial environment necessary to the survival of all species, including fish. All species, including humans, depend on healthy habitats".
Therefore, protection cannot be limited to certain habitats or certain types of fish. Doing that would distort everything we refer to as ecosystems and the protection of the environment. Wildlife habitats, already poorly protected, will lose virtually all protection. The focus will be placed on certain species that are dependent on a quality habitat.
I would like to conclude my remarks by saying that our ecological footprint on the planet is already very large. Development can no longer be done like it used to. We must absolutely ensure the durability of ecosystems and cannot pit economic development against environmental protection, as this bill seems to be doing. It provides for many systems that function by exception, geographic exceptions. Certain zones, certain activities, such as road and mine construction, could be removed from the Fisheries Act.
As you know, there is already an exception in the Metal Mining Liquid Effluent Regulations that makes it possible to not comply with the Fisheries Act. That led to the transformation of natural lakes into tailing ponds. That's one small exception whose meaning was corrupted in reality. With the way things stand, how many natural lakes or rivers will be used for roads, without assessment, without examination, without protection, to eventually be made into tailing ponds?
There are bogs in northern Quebec and Canada, and some wetlands are not necessarily suitable for fishing but are essential for ecosystems. So it is extremely important to not create this type of discretionary exception system. That is why Nature Québec is in favour of major change and the removal of those bill provisions on budget application.
Thank you.