Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the panel for appearing in front of us today to help us make recommendations toward the new Fisheries Act.
I am a farmer myself and I know Mr. Bonnett. I've met him on many different occasions, mostly regarding farm activity, but again here today on this issue of drainage, as you said, or any other activity that then becomes a wetland or becomes environmentally sensitive. I think almost every farm has had that rude awakening.
On the other hand, you could probably fish in some drainage ditches, and when you clean, silt is going back into the rivers. We know that causes a lot of harm to many different species. How do we deal with this? Is the onus always on the farmer or is there a community responsibility? How can we work to provide the right resource when you're going to clean a ditch? You would have resources, but how do you go about it and how do you mitigate this huge expense on the farm?