Fisheries Committee on May 2nd, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernadette Jordan]

Thank you, Mr. Lanteigne.

We'll now go to the final statements from Mr. Rubinstein and Mr. Gemmel.

I'm not sure if you're splitting your time or if one of you will be speaking.

Go ahead. You have 10 minutes, please.

[Daniel Rubinstein, Director, Policy and Research, Federation of Canadian Municipalities]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

On behalf of FCM's president and our board of directors, I want to acknowledge the passing of Gord Brown and to extend our sympathies, as well, to all of you.

Thank you very much for having us here today.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities welcomes this opportunity to bring Canada's municipal voice to your review of Bill C-68.

As environmental and economic leaders, local governments understand and support federal efforts to protect fish habitat. From coast to coast to coast, communities depend on strong and healthy aquatic ecosystems to support local fisheries, outdoor recreation, tourism, and quality of life.

Prior to the changes made to the act in 2012, municipalities were concerned that the legislation over-regulated low-risk activities and created unnecessary administrative burdens for municipalities. This was due to the fact that all projects, from a hydro dam to a culvert, required the same authorization under the act on all water bodies. These concerns were felt most acutely by our rural municipalities but were experienced by local governments of all sizes across the country. For these reasons, we were supportive of many of the changes that were made to the act in 2012.

At the same time, our members recognized that the blanket removal of the harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction, or HADD, provision had the effect of leaving some fish habitat less well protected and also created legal uncertainty for our members around how and when the new legislation would apply to local infrastructure projects. Further, the changes in 2012 didn't achieve the primary objective that municipalities were seeking, which was to treat smaller, low-risk projects differently.

There are a number of changes proposed in Bill C-68 that directly respond to recommendations we put forward to this committee during your review of the act last year. They include the reintroduction of the HADD provision; the introduction of codes of practice for routine infrastructure projects that follow clear guidelines to reduce impact and avoid HADD; the introduction of habitat offset banking so that municipalities can get credit for fish habitat they have created or restored; and as mentioned earlier, a new national registry that will document all work being undertaken in order to better assess cumulative impacts and make science-based decisions on the impact of fish habitat.

We support these changes, and we appreciate that the government considered our recommendations in drafting Bill C-68.

We're also pleased to see the announcement in budget 2018 of additional funding toward DFO to improve regulatory efficiency, monitoring, and reporting. Increasing the capacity of DFO is a need identified by our members, and we fully support the allocation of additional resources to that end.

Of the changes proposed in Bill C-68, we'd like to highlight in particular the establishment of codes of practice under section 34. This creates a new mechanism to provide guidance to municipalities and other proponents on how to undertake a project in a way that does not cause harm to fish habitat. Under this approach, municipalities won't have to seek an authorization under the act as long as they comply with the code.

We support this proposal as a way to avoid HADD, but it really will be important for DFO to work with municipalities in the near term to develop these codes of practice for a wide range of works. We believe that DFO should have the primary responsibility for developing these codes of practice in consultation with proponents, particularly in the case of municipalities that do not have the resources or expertise to do so on their own. To further assist municipalities in developing these codes of practice, we really are calling on DFO to make funding and other administrative assistance available to municipalities. I want to emphasize that we believe this is something that should happen this fiscal year.

While we welcome the addition of codes of practice to the legislative framework, our view is that, on their own, they won't go far enough to reduce the regulatory burden on small, low-risk municipal projects and operations.

There's one area that's very important to municipal governments that does not appear to have been addressed in the bill, and that's the application of the act to marginal fish habitat. Restoring the former HADD provision without complementary changes will have the impact of applying the act to drainage ditches and other similar bodies where fish are found to be present.

Last year, in response to your standing committee's review of the act, we supported the reintroduction of HADD, but we did recommend that it be re-established as part of a regulatory regime in a way that adequately protects fish and fish habitat without unnecessarily applying to low-risk municipal infrastructure and in water bodies that don't constitute fish habitat. Our recommendation was to develop a new mechanism within the legislation that would identity specific kinds of works, undertakings, and activities related to the construction and maintenance of municipal infrastructure. This mechanism would authorize specific activities to take place without the application of the HADD provision and within applicable terms and conditions meant to provide basic protection for fish and fish habitat.

I want to underscore that, as an order of government, municipalities are fundamentally different from private sector proponents. Municipal infrastructure projects are subject to federal environmental legislation that's been developed with a sense of public input. They're guided by comprehensive, environmental, and land-use policies, and are subject to the approval and oversight of democratically elected councils that are accountable to the public.

Municipal infrastructure is built exclusively to serve the public and is essential to economic activity and to quality of life. Any costs and delays related to building and repairing this infrastructure impact taxpayers and the fiscal sustainability of public budgets, especially at the local level. This is especially pertinent given the federal government's historic long-term infrastructure plan and long-term investments in both new construction and maintenance projects at the local level.

Your committee recognized the unique circumstances of municipalities during your review of the act last year and called on DFO to “put sufficient protection provisions into the Fisheries Act that act as safeguards for farmers and agriculturalists, and municipalities.”

Bill C-68 does not adequately do this, and to address the concerns of municipalities, as I mentioned before, a corresponding regulation will need to be developed that exempts works, activities, and undertakings that cause HADD but that have only a limited impact on fish or fish habitat. We're recommending that your committee urge DFO to prioritize the development of that regulation under section 35 of the act.

In conclusion, FCM supports a number of the important changes that have been brought forward by the government in this legislation, but the changes alone will cause delays for municipalities in carrying out routine maintenance or the building of infrastructure with minimum impact on fish habitat.

Again, to underscore, we're recommending that the government prioritize two things: the development of a new regulation under section 35 that exempts works, activities, and undertakings that cause HADD but have only a small impact on fish or fish habitat, such that they do not compromise the objectives of the act; and, again, that DFO proactively work with municipalities to develop codes of practice and to make funding and technical assistance available to municipalities this fiscal year to begin developing these codes.

We look forward to working with DFO to ensure that Bill C-68, once implemented, can work for municipalities of all sizes.

We'd be happy to answer questions from the committee or individual members following the meeting.

Thanks very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernadette Jordan]

Thank you very much.

We do have six minutes before we have to leave. I don't know if we want to ask one question each. I'm looking to my Conservative colleagues.

No. Okay, we are going to adjourn the meeting then.

Mr. Olszynski, thank you so much for appearing by video conference.

Mr. Lanteigne, Mr. Gemmel, and Mr. Rubinstein, thank you for your testimony today.

The meeting is adjourned.