Environment committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Mike Puddister. I am the deputy CAO and the director of watershed transformation at the Credit Valley Conservation Authority. With me is Terri LeRoux, the executive director of the Credit Valley Conservation Founda

Environment committee  Yes, absolutely.

Environment committee  Thanks. The government and the non-profit sectors are necessary but insufficient to address society's greatest environmental challenges. We envision a robust sector of the economy that harnesses the power in private enterprise to create public benefit. This sector comprises corp

Environment committee  There is the Canadian Business and Biodiversity Council, which is chaired by Steve Hounsell, former staff person with Ontario Power Generation. That is a national organization that brings corporations together to reflect on their business operations and how they impact on biodive

Environment committee  Yes, the first recommendation was that perhaps there is a role for the federal government in promoting the existence of a number of successful partnerships. Certainly we've heard about a number of them this morning. The work of the committee is exemplary, but we need to somehow d

Environment committee  Thank you, Ms. Ambler. As you know, Imax is a corporate leader in innovation. In fact, our greening corporate grounds program was actually launched at Imax. They've been a partner with us from the very beginning. Our staff was working with them, and they came to realize that the

Environment committee  I don't know the exact figures. The Imax project is well into the hundreds of thousands. It's a very major initiative and capital investment. For Teck industries, I don't have a number. For RBC, the current pilot project is around $90,000.

Environment committee  A significant number of our volunteers do come from the corporate sector. Along the Mississauga shoreline, we have the Holcim facility that I referred to earlier. Their employees have engaged in a variety of stewardship-related projects. Suncor is also a major facility right on t

Environment committee  Yes, that's correct. About a third of the watershed is in agricultural land use.

Environment committee  I'd have to say that the first thing is trust. It's about building relationships. We have really put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that the agricultural sector knows who we are and what it is that we're trying to offer them. We're fortunate to have some funding through t

Environment committee  Thank you. As I mentioned, we position ourselves as being the watershed experts, if you will, the leading science authorities for the ecosystem we have responsibility for. As I'm sure you and other members would appreciate, the environmental issues we're challenged with, whethe

Environment committee  Thank you. Well, as you point out, it's a huge issue. Right now we've been fortunate to have municipal funding to address the bulk of the issue. Down in the southern part of the watershed, in our Rattray Marsh Conservation Area, consisting of about 80% to 85% ash trees, the comm

Environment committee  Well, it's a matter of marketing, I suppose. We've certainly made some efforts there in the Mississauga community, making them aware of the EAB issue and how significant it is, including with press releases and workshops, as you pointed out. We've always provided that opportunity

Environment committee  Yes, I believe it does.

Environment committee  Certainly, the foundation would not be providing advocacy in terms of that particular application. Our planning staff may have commented. I'm not responsible for that area, so I'm not certain.