Environment committee  We have a wetland base across the country that has ebbed and flowed a little bit, but generally has been in decline for many years. It was interesting reading the federal policy document in preparation for today's presentation, because it talks about where Canada was at 22 years ago in terms of numbers of wetlands on the landscape.

Environment committee  I think the numbers we use are about 70% to 75%. It really depends on the province you're in.

Environment committee  Absolutely.

Environment committee  We would like to see, as I mentioned earlier, significant net gains in habitat. The only way to do that is to incentivize it and to.... It costs money, obviously, to restore wetlands. It's one of the lessons we've learned, and one of the reasons we're active in landscapes that are not developed in terms of agriculture or in terms of industrial developments, such as the north, is to not replicate those mistakes that have been made in southern landscapes, and to maintain those landscapes, or at least the most important areas of those landscapes, as they are.

Environment committee  In the 1991 policy, one of the recommendations was a call for all jurisdictions in Canada to develop mutually supporting wetland conservation policies by 1991. We believe that as a part of the national conservation plan the government is developing there could be measures underwritten by public funds and supported by partnership dollars.

Environment committee  We think we've arrived at a point in Canada where we have depleted the wetlands base down to about less than one third of what existed prior to settlement. We're not suggesting we will ever get back to that point, but we believe our policy is to achieve significant net gains in habitat.

Environment committee  They generally would like more information as to what that means. But in my estimation, they're business people and they are looking to derive income off the land. We believe there's room to work with them to try to achieve some kind of compromise in this. By and large, the members of the farm organizations we have spoken to—and we have spoken to all the large farm organizations—are aware of the importance of wetlands and what they provide on their landscape.

Environment committee  Certainly there's room for flexibility. Typically we fall back on the scientific question, which is, what is the specific habitat function that is being lost? If it's one that allows us to move outside of the general area, I think there's room for flexibility. Typically public policy has been directed towards replicating or replacing habitats within the same watershed.

Environment committee  There is definitely a lack of market incentive almost right across the board. There are some provinces like in Ontario, for example, where the Drainage Act is actually promoting wetlands drainage as opposed to maintaining habitat on the landscape. Certainly, there is definitely a lack of market-based and market incentives to retain habitat on the landscape.

Environment committee  Yes. It's very difficult to protect wetlands in highly developed landscapes such as that. We found the price of land in some areas is sufficiently high that we were simply out of the market at this point.

Environment committee  P.E.I. has a peculiar set of circumstances, as you know. It has a very small geography, and the agricultural practices on P.E.I., particularly around potato farming, have compelled the province to take very strong remedial actions to protect the watersheds. There's a tremendous amount of herbicides and fertilizers that are used for agriculture, and the province has had to take fairly dramatic steps to not only protect the water, but protect the wetlands base that supports the drinking water in that province.

Environment committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, the last couple of slides talk a little bit about the current state of policy affairs in Canada. I'm sure committee members will know that Canada does in fact have an existing federal wetlands policy. There are two components to that. There is the policy document, which was prepared in 1991, ten years after Canada joined the Ramsar Convention, the international convention that was signed in the 1970s to protect wetlands of global significance.

Environment committee  It's actually going to be Mr. Siekaniec.

Environment committee  I'm not directly familiar with them, but our Quebec program may well be. Unfortunately, our Quebec director is not with us today. We work extensively with local, on-the-ground, community-based conservation organizations. I could name some. For example, in Ontario, we've worked with Habitat Haldimand in the lower Grand River area.