Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 25th, 2018

[William Anderson]

I would say that any increased awareness we can have in the population about how actions taken through certain activities can have a negative impact on the spread of pests would be highly supported by the agency. In addition to the regulatory oversight, having Canadians appreciate and understand that simple things, like moving firewood from an area that's infested to an area that's not, are going to spread that pest.... The more word gets out that these simple actions to which people may not give a second thought actually have a very big impact on the spread of these pests, the better.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. MacFarlane, are there any recommendations the association has made in the past to ensure that we have better language in international trade agreements?

[Derek MacFarlane]

That's better directed toward my colleague.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Okay.

[William Anderson]

We do have the International Plant Protection Convention, where we work very closely with other countries. It's a treaty. We work on standards collectively. The countries that belong to it are working to minimize the impact of pests going around the globe. There's regularization in meetings and there are priorities set up with the committees that meet in this area to talk about where we can develop new standards or provide more clarity. I made a reference to the phytosanitary measure around wood packing, and what an impact that's had with respect to reducing the spread of pests. That was a major vector for wood packing in all shipments of materials coming and going around the world.

Now all countries that are party to the IPPC are ensuring that the wood used in that is treated. It will have a stamp on it to say it is treated. It will be inspected to ensure that anything moving across countries is using only that wood, or it would be non-compliant, not allowed into our country and treated accordingly.

I think there's a lot of attention right now on where we can have standards of co-operation so that we can have very effective outcomes like that. We're building and looking for other areas around other commodities, potentially, where we could apply it as well.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Serré.

Mr. Cannings, you have three minutes, and this will be the last segment.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

I think I'll turn to the New Brunswick team here, to get a bit more detail on that and clear up something. Mr. Harvey said that it sounded as if I was saying, “Let it all go.” What I was trying to say was that it's good that you're trying to get in early on this one. I think that's the way to go. Once it becomes large, it's very difficult and there may be other consequences.

That was the gist of that question. Mr. Harvey said I was just throwing all the forest industry under the bus.

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

No, I said what you said.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I was talking about the pine beetle as well.

Anyway, I wonder if you could comment on that. I know you're from New Brunswick, but what's going on in Quebec next door that you have to deal with? That's where the pressure of the infestation is coming from. At what stage is that infestation, and what actions are being taken there versus what you're doing?

[Chris Ward]

Do you want to go ahead?

[Chris Norfolk]

We share information regularly with our Quebec colleagues. Our understanding is that the outbreak of spruce budworm is intensifying in the area of Gaspé and below the St. Lawrence. That creates a population centre, if you will, that provides new individuals by the billions into the New Brunswick system each year. We wouldn't want to comment on the policies and management approaches of the Quebec government, but any activity they undertake in the region that is bordering Atlantic Canada would have a positive effect on our own problem with spruce budworm, simply by reducing the population levels adjacent to us.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I have one more question for Mr. Anderson.

In your comments, you mentioned oak wilt. I just learned about oak wilt last week for the first time. It seems to be a little different. It seems to be native to North America, but it's marching north toward our border. Are there any different strategies you have for those kinds of pests that may cross of their own volition rather than with people carrying firewood across?

[William Anderson]

I believe we have some active monitoring that's taking place right now. Accessing logs from certain areas would be restricted, for certain mills, knowing they're in an area where oak wilt would be. I don't have the specifics of all the programs that are in place with respect to oak wilt, but there would be monitoring involved and restriction on sourcing for Canadian mills out of areas that would have oak wilt in the States.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Cannings.

Gentlemen, thank you all for joining us today. Unfortunately, we're out of time for this meeting. We do appreciate your taking the time to join us. That was a valuable contribution to an interesting study.

The meeting is adjourned.