This was part of the case study that we had looked into, doing a risk assessment process and then making some recommendations to the Province of Ontario and in eastern Canada to prepare for the potential invasion of the mountain pine beetle.
We have a number of recommendations. Some of them are regulatory, so Ontario, as a province, could consider regulating the mountain pine beetle as a pest, or regulating the pathway—the introduction of firewood or logs with bark that might be bringing the beetle into Ontario.
Also, it could consider a lot of collaboration with the western provinces. All the on-the-ground action is happening in Alberta along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, so Ontario could contribute to that financially to slow the spread coming east. It could be in-kind support, sending staff that way to get the training, to recognize the insect and how it spreads, and gain our expertise in eastern Canada.
Research is another key thing that shouldn't be forgotten. The federal government has done some amazing research on the mountain pine beetle already, but there are opportunities to do more research in figuring out how the mountain pine beetle might behave in the Ontario environment. It's never been here before so apart from taking the pine beetles and putting them in Ontario, which I don't think anyone wants to do, it's a challenge to figure out how they will actually behave. There is climate modelling that should be done. There is looking at the types of forests we have and the connectivity of the forests to figure out if the mountain pine beetles could actually establish and sustain themselves here.
Again, there's public outreach, and connecting to communities, especially in northwestern Ontario, which might be at the front line of the mountain pine beetle coming into Ontario. It might be first nation communities and it might be the forest industry in northwestern Ontario, and training them on mountain pine beetle identification and getting more eyes on the ground to detect it early if it does arrive.