William Amos

[Ottawa River Watershed, February 23rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating the member for Ottawa South for his consistent advocacy in support of the protection of the Ottawa River and its watershed.

I support Motion No. 104, and I really look forward to the work that will be done in support of the establishment of the Ottawa River watershed council.

In the late 1980s, I grew up in west Ottawa just a stones throw away from the river. I drank from the river, swam in it, fiddled around on it, and paddled up and down on it. This is the aquatic spinal cord of our national capital. It is meaningful to me personally that the member for Ottawa South has brought this motion.

In the late 1990s, I commuted in a canoe up and down to my work at the Terrasses de la Chaudière building in Gatineau and back home. We would go down the Ottawa River in the morning, down the rapids, and back up against the flow in the afternoon. I have a great champion for the Ottawa River as a friend, Max Finkelstein. He was the real engine as we paddled upstream.

This river inspired me to become an environmental lawyer, to defend our rights as Canadians to a healthy environment. In turn, this afforded me the opportunity to work with the great organization, the Ottawa Riverkeeper, on the very topic we are debating today: the proper governance of this national capital watershed.

For about a decade, I have advocated that we establish a similar kind of council. Therefore, I want to commend the member for Ottawa South for bringing this motion forward.

Now I represent the riding of Pontiac whose very history is defined by the Ottawa River and all its great tributaries, the Dumoine, the Coulonge, the Noir, and the Gatineau. As the member for Edmonton Strathcona pointed out, it was the Anishinabe peoples who called it the Kitchissippi, the great river. Meegwetch for our indigenous friends who have taught us so much over the years about the importance of this waterway. In particular, I would highlight the incredible contributions of the late Grand Chief William Commanda with whom I collaborated to prevent uranium exploration in this watershed.

Over 400 years ago, Samuel de Champlain met the Algonquin chief, Tessouat, who collected the tolls that the Algonquins charged fur traders travelling on the Ottawa River. Chief Tessouat's authority and the historic role of the Algonquins in controlling passage on the Ottawa River is a good starting point for debate on this motion.

The Ottawa River watershed is among the most impressive in Canada and continues to play an important historic, environmental, and economic role. For much of its length, it functions as the boundary between Quebec and Ontario. Located on traditional Algonquin land, it flows through our nation's capital and serves as a wildlife corridor and a natural route for the region's inhabitants.

The river provides us with fresh drinking water, fertile agricultural land, hydroelectricity, and lumber to build our houses. The watershed provides for us all.

The Ottawa River watershed is an engine of economic growth in the region and supports many small and medium-sized businesses in such industries as forestry, fishing, and tourism. It is home to an agricultural industry estimated at $100 million.

The rivers itself is also the main source of drinking water for many communities in the region, including the 30,000 people that I represent in the Plateau, Aylmer, Limbour, and Mont-Luc areas of Gatineau. It is also a continual source of hydroelectric energy for western Quebec and eastern Ontario.

However, it is a fragile ecosystem, and its habitat, which is home to a number of endangered species, is threatened by the historical and current use. A good example is the recent dumping of millions of litres of untreated sewage into the Lièvre River, which flows directly into the Ottawa River.

All levels of government—federal, provincial, municipal, and indigenous—must work together to do more to protect this resource. Water management in Canada does not fall clearly within the jurisdiction of a single level of government. It falls under federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdiction.

Indigenous peoples, particularly the Algonquin Nation, also have various constitutionally protected rights associated with the use of water, including fishing and navigation.

The current governance structure of the Ottawa River watershed is, in my opinion, inadequate. The Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board, which was established in 1983 as an intergovernmental body composed of the governments of Canada, Ontario, and Quebec, is responsible for regulating water flows for hydroelectric production and for flood prevention along the Ottawa River basin. Its mandate is to achieve integrated management by which dam operators can make water flow decisions with full knowledge of the impact that they will have on water levels downstream in other areas of the basin.

However, the committee does not have a mandate to protect the environment. In fact, the board does not actually have an integrated management structure in place where environmental, municipal, aboriginal, and other interests with respect to the watershed can contribute their views, and contribute their knowledge. It creates a bit of a jurisdictional silo in respect of flows and hydroelectricity, but not the entire ecological picture. This is an anomaly, as my learned colleague from Ottawa South pointed out, as many other important watersheds, like the St. Lawrence and Fraser rivers, have integrated management plans, which involve co-operation between, at the minimum, the federal and provincial levels of government.

I support this motion because it will enable our Liberal government and those experts who are so familiar with the Ottawa River to work with different levels of government, Ontario, Quebec, Gatineau, Ottawa, and other local municipalities, to enact and implement improvements in Ottawa River watershed protection and governance.

This motion would allow our government to negotiate an Ottawa River watershed action plan. That is what I would hope would come out of the work of such a council. I hope that would be a collaborative initiative with all levels of government.

In my view, this kind of plan could help pool the resources and expertise of over 20 government agencies, universities, first nations, and other organizations as partners; harmonize regional investments in the waterway to sustainably develop the ecosystem; build on our government's ongoing work to strengthen federal law and policy impacting our waterways, and repealing the Harper Conservatives' drastic measures that weakened all sorts of federal laws, from the Fisheries Act, to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, Species at Risk Act, and the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Before concluding, I would simply like to say that it is so important that we continue to work with the leading voices on this file.

The federal government must continue to engage in co-operative federalism and to work with Ontario, Quebec, and organizations like Ottawa Riverkeeper and CREDDO, the Conseil régional de l'environnement et du développement durable de l'Outaouais, which have done a lot of work on this file in the past.

I would like to congratulate the member for Ottawa South on his motion, and having regard to the suggestion made by my hon. colleague from Edmonton Strathcona, I am in agreement with her that the government should move expeditiously on this file. I would like to propose an amendment to the motion.

I move:

That the motion be amended by:

(a) replacing the words 'the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development be instructed to' with the words, 'in the opinion of the House, the government should';

(b) replacing the words 'the Committee shall' with the words 'the government should';

(c) deleting all the words after the words 'within the Ottawa River Watershed;'.

The motion as amended would read: “That, in the opinion of the House, the government should undertake a detailed study with regard to the creation of an Ottawa River Watershed Council, which would bring a comprehensive, inclusive, co-management approach to the Ottawa River Watershed, in order to foster ecological integrity, sustainable economic opportunities, and quality of life; in its study, the government should examine (i) the council membership, which would include, but would not be limited to, federal, provincial, regional, and municipal governments, First Nations, industry groups, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions, (ii) important indicators such as water quality, biodiversity, and shoreline integrity, in order to assist with the creation of a co-management plan and conservation strategy, (iii) the economic, cultural, heritage, and natural values within the Ottawa River Watershed.”

[Rural Regions, February 17th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Minister of National Revenue, and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food for meeting with the residents of Pontiac recently.

It is clear that our government is working hard to meet with Canadians and give a voice to rural people.

The measures put in place by our government are already making a real difference for Canadians across the country, and we will continue to work hard to ensure growth and strengthen the middle class every day.

We will also continue to work for reconciliation, and for creating opportunities, for Aboriginal peoples, while promoting Canada’s diversity as one of our greatest strengths, protecting our environment and fighting climate change.

Thank you to my colleagues for listening to our regions.

[Arts and Culture, February 10th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, after Juno Award nominees were announced this week, fans of Canadian music are gearing up for an awesome party in Ottawa on April 2.

However, let us not forget that, once again, Canadian artists are also well-represented among the nominees for the 59th annual Grammy Awards taking place this Sunday in Los Angeles. Indeed, Canadian artists have started from the bottom and now they are here, across the world, from Montreal to Hong Kong, from Bangkok to Babylon. From hip-hop to Indie rock, folk, jazz, and country, to pop chart toppers, Canada is known for the diversity of its homegrown talent.

Could the government provide the members of the House with an update on the state of Canadian recording artists on the international scene?

[Petitions, December 7th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to submit a petition in relation to community television and media.

Dozens of residents of Pontiac have signed a petition which asks the government to enable community operated media centres that would ensure not only the survival of community television, but also the availability of local media in small towns and neighbourhoods that are not served by private or public media. The petitioners also call upon the government to ensure that Canada residents have access to multi-media platforms, media skills training, and content distribution capacity in the digital economy.

I am quite proud of one of my constituents, Catherine Edwards, who is the head of the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations. She has worked very hard on this, so it is an honour to stand and deliver this.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2, December 6th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, it is a nice occasion to consider what the impact of cutting and cutting has done to the growth of the pie, as the hon. member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola has alluded to. In 2013, the previous administration, the Harper government, determined that it was a good idea to get rid of the rural secretariat, which was the one and only mechanism that was used to ensure that all departments across the federal government had a rural lens and were able to focus on the challenges of small rural towns and villages. I know that the member opposite represents such towns and communities and I wonder, in the context of this notion that he is bringing to us of growing the pie, how his constituents could have possibly been served by that killing of the rural secretariat.

[Amici, November 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Amici, a Canadian charity that sends kids from low-income families to overnight summer camps.

Established in 1966 by staff members at Kilcoo Camp, a magical place that nourished my growth from boy to man, Amici has provided children with over 1,500 unforgettable summer experiences. Along with its 40 partner camps, Amici shares a common belief in the life-changing power of summer camp, a belief that less privileged kids deserve a summer experience to help them develop their character, tenacity, and resilience in an iconic Canadian wilderness setting.

When I think of summer camp, I see the smiles of lifelong friends. I feel the triumph over conquered fears. I recall learning who I am and who I aspire to be. Leadership and self-confidence are earned and developed over time, and Amici commits to sending a child to camp for as long as they are old enough to attend. Many Amici campers are then hired on as counsellors.

My thanks to Amici for 50 years of life-changing experience, “Rip, ram, razzle, scram”.

[Infrastructure, November 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I will begin by congratulating my colleague, the Minister of Finance, on his announcement of $2 billion over the next 10 years for rural communities across Canada.

This $2 billion in infrastructure funding demonstrates how our government is committed to a promising future for Canada's small towns and villages. It is an investment that builds on the $500 million that budget 2016 allocated over five years for rural high-speed Internet access. Our government is listening to folks who live outside the urban setting, and we are supporting sustainable rural development across Canada.

However, after one year in office, this government's work is far from done. Along with my colleagues, I am working to overcome the previous Conservative government's legacy of de-funding and shutting down the rural secretariat in 2013. There must be an institutional mechanism within the Government of Canada to ensure that all federal departments take into consideration rural realities, to coordinate across departments, to invest in small local businesses, and to create a dialogue with stakeholders in the smallest of Canadian towns.

I am confident our government will deliver a vision of rural-urban complementarity where the resources of—

[Regional Economic Development, October 5th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, on October 3, a socio-economic forum was held in Maniwaki for the riding of Pontiac.

It has become clear that the development of our rural regions in the Outaouais depends largely on the prosperity of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, but the converse is also true. The national capital urban area benefits just as much from the economic development of the surrounding rural regions.

Rural folks in the Pontiac are proposing new mechanisms to ensure their prosperity, and they support the return of the rural secretariat, an institution that was abolished by the former Harper government. This secretariat would ensure that the concerns of rural areas are taken into account in each federal government department, including issues related to the socio-economic development of our small towns.

By taking this step, we could then come up with solutions adapted to their reality and better resolve issues like Internet access, the exodus of young people, tourism development, and the social isolation of seniors. I appreciate our government's efforts when it comes to our rural regions, and I hope we can continue in this direction.

[Paris Agreement, October 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that it is refreshing to hear the member for Bow River speak to the reality and severity of the issue of climate change.

I agree he is not a Conservative dinosaur. In fact, I have gotten to know him quite a bit more over the past several weeks and appreciate tremendously what he brings to the House and to the issues of climate change and conservation more broadly for the entire country. I also appreciate that he has focused on innovative businesses.

I would like to get his sense of the following comments by Canadian business leaders. Suncor, to take an example, has stated, “We support a broad-based price on carbon as an important tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change”. Shell Canada's president, Michael Crothers, has stated that “balancing Canadian economic development while protecting the environment will be enabled by a reasonable price on carbon”. Finally, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, has said that “A national carbon price moves Canada into a global leader on climate. Now, we need to balance with the growth of our economy economy”.

Would the member opposite react to these remarks by Canada's energy industry?

[Paris Agreement, October 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that the Government of Canada has been consulting and negotiating directly with indigenous peoples from coast to coast to coast for many months now. Inuit peoples, first nations, and other indigenous populations have been participating in these talks, which have been taking place as part of a pan-Canadian strategy currently being negotiated with the provinces, with the four working groups.

It is crucial that they be part of the solution. I believe that the Government of Canada has a duty to ensure that those discussions are worthy of the crown. Our Minister of Environment, Ms. McKenna, will continue this dialogue.