Natural Resources committee  Part of that was what I mentioned, doing mock exercises. We've held two mock exercises with the province and with other groups—industry and whatnot—to actually go through the scenario of what happens when you find a mountain pine beetle-infested tree and what happens next and who takes the lead.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I think the federal government could always invest more in some of the networks, collaborations and partnerships that we have. I don't know if that role would be invasive species as a whole, or if you would break it down into forest pests versus other types of invasive species.

Natural Resources committee  In some cases, yes.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I think when we talked about investing in collaborations and partnerships we didn't mean only domestically. I think that has to happen first and foremost domestically, but it has to also include the rest of North America. We participate in networks that are North American-wide that have members from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada on them.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, across the border. I think there is always room for improvement, so additional investment in working on those networks and collaborations and partnerships, either at the government level or through organizations such as ours, is critical. Then bringing that as a North American approach to the international community is very important when we're stopping new invasions.

Natural Resources committee  It's a combination of both. The emerald ash borer and the Asian long-horned beetle are not native to Canada, so they have arrived here via different pathways and obviously have the ability to adapt and survive.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, if it meets our definition of “invasive”.... It may be a native pest that is introduced into a new range and therefore has a great impact. That's considered invasive.

Natural Resources committee  It depends on what the species is and who has regulated it, if it's regulated. In some cases, species are regulated federally under the CFIA, so the emerald ash borer would be one. In other cases, it may not be federally regulated and the province may be responsible through their forest health program to respond.

Natural Resources committee  That's where risk assessment comes in, and preparing for some of these new responses. We might have to be looking out over the horizon. Beyond Canada and the U.S., we have to look internationally as well, to see what could be the next pest that's coming. We have to get out in front of it, do the risk assessment in advance, and then answer those policy questions.

Natural Resources committee  I do think that there could be more tools in the tool box as far as being able to treat some of these.

Natural Resources committee  A lot of it has to do with some of the studies that have been done on the impacts of using some of those tools. The U.S., for example, does have a lot more access to some of those tools than Canada does at the moment. I think something we could work towards is being able to have a few more tools for that.

Natural Resources committee  Sure, we could do that.

Natural Resources committee  We've had a very positive relationship as well with the Canadian Forest Service. They helped form the ISC. They saw the need for an organization such as that seven years ago when we were started. The CFS could definitely play a coordination role in having a collaborative partner or agreements with partners, maybe multiple partners in some cases to be able to coordinate some of this work.

Natural Resources committee  Yes. We definitely need to take that into account. Even when you're dealing with a species such as the mountain pine beetle that's native to western Canada, it could be devastating and very impactful to eastern Canada. You definitely have to take those regional pieces into consideration.

Natural Resources committee  It is definitely regionally specific, but some of the ones that we've been working on specifically are the hemlock woolly adelgid, which is already in parts of Canada.