My name is Ray Orb, and I am the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. SARM is an independent association that represents all 296 rural municipal governments in Saskatchewan.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today about Bill C-68, an act to amend the Fisheries Act and other acts in consequence.
Prior to 2012, the Fisheries Act placed unnecessary regulatory and administrative burdens on municipalities and agriculture producers. The 2012 amendments to the act lessened these burdens. SARM is concerned that the current review and subsequent amendments may re-instate these unnecessary burdens, creating further delays to municipal infrastructure projects, increasing costs, and generally leading to more administrative burden for rural municipalities.
SARM supports ensuring that fish habitats are preserved and that any damage to habitat be mitigated through a balanced approach. Prior to 2012, the act applied to all waterways in Canada, regardless of whether the waterways actually supported fish habitats. Impact assessments and modified design and construction processes were often required for municipal bridges and culverts to accommodate fish habitats that, in many cases, did not exist. Municipal drainage maintenance was hindered by lengthy bureaucratic application processes for permits and authorizations. This resulted in requirements to install larger-than-necessary culverts to accommodate the passage of fish.
These requirements increased the costs of projects and delayed construction timelines, which is a significant burden given Saskatchewan’s very short construction season. For example, in the fall of 2011, the rural municipality of White Valley, which is in southwestern Saskatchewan, was replacing a culvert that intersected a seasonal running stream. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans assessed the work and concluded that a larger culvert for fish passage was necessary. This added $28,000 to the overall cost of the project. The cost was borne alone by the municipality’s ratepayers, even though Canada as a whole is a beneficiary of fish protection.
The current version of the Fisheries Act effectively balances the need for habitat protection with the need for municipal infrastructure development by focusing on federal oversight of the protection of Canada’s commercial, recreational, and indigenous fisheries. This results in increased autonomy for municipalities to use local tools to balance environmental stewardship and infrastructure development on other waterways.
For SARM’s members, the 2012 amendments streamlined review processes and improved enforcement mechanisms. These amendments also recognized that waterways such as drainage ditches and agricultural irrigation canals should not be treated in the same way as natural fish habitats.
This past March, SARM had the opportunity to meet with Minister LeBlanc and Minister Goodale to discuss the proposed amendments. At this meeting, we were pleased to learn from the ministers that the intent is not to return to the way things were prior to 2012, and that there is a strong intention to work with municipalities, agriculture producers, and provincial and territorial governments. We believe that making use of Saskatchewan environment officials to conduct investigations and partake in enforcement is an opportunity to avoid a duplication of efforts by using existing provincial services and maximizing fish and habitat protection.
For municipal projects, a code of best practices would benefit municipalities and other stakeholders. By having best practices in place, we can all play a role in environmental sustainability. Minister LeBlanc also mentioned that low, medium, and high-risk projects all need to be treated differently, and SARM is interested in hearing more about what determines what those categories are. SARM recommends that any amendments made to the Fisheries Act take into consideration the municipalities’ needs, and that any amendments do not bring back the administrative burdens and project delays that existed before the 2012 amendments were put in place. SARM encourages the federal government to consider providing funding to municipalities and individual land owners for the costs they accumulate while taking measures to maintain publicly beneficial fish and fish habitat for environmental stewardship.
SARM, along with the Western Canadian Municipal Association, strongly agree with the following recommendations by the committee: sufficient protection provisions to act as safeguards for municipalities; the expediting of permitting to allow for works that involve the restoration of damage, infrastructure, and emergency works to protect people and communities; an advisory committee, including municipalities, to provide ongoing recommendations regarding the administration and enforcement of the act.
Streamlining the review processes is important to municipalities, given our short construction season in Saskatchewan. Municipalities must be able to complete emergency projects in a timely manner.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.