Environment committee  The municipal government, I would say, is the closest to the ground. They are responsible for difficult neighbour decisions on land use, for example. They're responsible for the drainage system. In many cases they're responsible for the local roads, which are related to the drain

Environment committee  There's no question, and I think the evidence is already before us. We have had regulations on the table for 40 or 50 years and they have not been enforced, because I don't think they can be enforced. You are basically expropriating property rights by telling landowners without i

Environment committee  Yes. The county we began working with two years ago was the County of Vermilion River, east of Edmonton; and more recently we began working with Parkland County near Edmonton, of course; and then Red Deer County just joined the program a few weeks ago.

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. I would contrast the environmental farm plan as a road map of how to do conservation on a farm, whereas the conservation reserve program that I referred to in the U.S. actually provided incentives to deliver that plan. It really paid an annual amount

Environment committee  Correct. It was incorporated into the 1985 farm bill by the U.S. Congress. At the same time, in Canada we began our North American waterfowl management plan. There was a natural experiment of sorts north and south of the border, and the Americans won hands down on this. They inve

Environment committee  No, it's different. I would have the U.S. Farm Bill in the incentive category. I'd put easements in the acquisition category. I think the more certainty you insist upon, the less of a footprint you're going to affect, so if you want to buy land, if you want to buy easements, you

Environment committee  Absolutely, but I would say it's more important that we apply the knowledge we have in policy development.

Environment committee  We know more about raising ducks and how ducks survive on the landscape than we do about any other animal in the world. We can measure the actual ecological production of waterfowl, for example, at a level that is not possible for most other species. We know a lot about what ty

Environment committee  Well, in our field we've had habitat regulations for decades, both at the federal level under the Migratory Birds Act and in each province, where there have been permitting for and prohibitions against diverting and draining wetlands for decades—really, since the 1940s. They have

Environment committee  Merci. I agree. I think there is an opportunity to generate funds for conservation, particularly at the provincial level with the example set in Alberta with the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act. Through the model that I laid out, I think there is a tremendous opport

Environment committee  I think we know a lot, based on our experience. I believe there is enough knowledge both within and outside government to move forward. I think it's time to move forward.

Environment committee  Thank you. We are working with three counties in Alberta now. Counties in Alberta are very large geographically, and they have significant administrative capacity. They have embraced with open arms the concept of delivering and managing the process of conservation incentives. W

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My notes are before you. I appreciate the opportunity to offer some observations based on our experience with North American conservation programs over the past 70 years. Delta Waterfowl is an international charity. We're de