Actually, we have some national water quality guidelines, but they are only guidelines. They're not enforceable. So we have a patchwork quilt of provincial and municipal water standards. In far too many instances, we have no water standards at all.
One solution would be to look to the countries that finished ahead of Canada, both in the economic ranking that the World Economic Forum recently released and in the OECD environmental ranking. Many of these countries have a national environmental plan or strategy, something that creates a comprehensive and consistent level of standards for air, water, land, and maintenance of biodiversity. This would be something that the feds and the provinces get together on and the provinces buy into. The buy-in is essential.
This would level the playing field. It would also do away with some of the concerns that arise in various jurisdictions. They are concerned that if they introduce meaningful standards in one area, then economic actors will go next door to another area, where they can operate less expensively or in a less responsible manner.
So the answer is to put in place enforceable national standards.