Environment committee  There's a lot of opportunity to do a lot more and to invest in it. I think the delivery model of how you go about it can certainly be debated. I don't know whether we need a new PFRA, but more investment is going to be a good thing.

Environment committee  You highlighted some really interesting issues and dynamics that play out in agriculture. We often think about the one issue—carbon gets a lot of attention these days—but depending on where you are in the country and how you farm, water may be your number one environmental impact

Environment committee  I think it is investment in research and development. How do we do a better job of understanding how to be more water-efficient? How do we do a better job of developing more drought-tolerant crops and more drought-tolerant cropping systems? We talk a lot about mitigation, but I

Environment committee  Often the right things to do, the good things to do, in agriculture have multiple benefits. Planting more trees and riparian buffers are good for water management also. It's really good for carbon sequestration. I think it's a good example, though, of where Canada has been slowe

Environment committee  I think there's an opportunity to bring people together. I think it's not necessarily about authority but rather about a collaborative approach that better standardizes the data collection, monitoring and reporting we do across provincial boundaries and alongside the federal gove

Environment committee  It's important to understand that the provinces are usually responsible for protecting water quality. I think the agricultural sector is a good example of the need to invest more in research. We should be improving and increasing our knowledge of practices to better protect water

Environment committee  I think that's an interesting question. The level of consultation has probably never been higher. We have more opportunities to offer more perspectives in more places, but I think that's different from engagement, and I'll note that the approach with the sustainable agriculture

Environment committee  Canadian agriculture, compared to its competitors, is a relatively low user of irrigation. We have a lot of untapped potential for sustainable irrigation on Canadian farms. The Government of Saskatchewan is picking up something that was started 60 years ago to build out greater i

Environment committee  Yes, of course. In some places, the planning done at the watershed level is very effective. However, in other places, the management could be planned better. By way of context, water is a regional challenge. There are several ways to approach watershed management. Some approach

Environment committee  According to our proposed action plan, the agriculture ministers would be responsible for the issue, and the responsibility would be shared. Other departments would have a say, including the environment and infrastructure departments. The list is quite long. We want this matter

Environment committee  I think how you define “well” is an interesting question. Other governments have been driven by crisis to take different approaches. In the struggles around jurisdictions in the United States, states with their own approaches to water management that didn't always work well toge

Environment committee  I would say, just briefly, that I think it's important to understand that around the world the water dynamics are changing. Canada has an opportunity to get ahead of the problem before it comes, before we're put in the same position that the Australians and the Americans have bee

Environment committee  I think it really speaks to the need to understand and respect mandates, jurisdictions and the role that all of the players play. I think there is a need and an opportunity for strong federal leadership, but it needs to be federal leadership that takes a collaborative approach wi

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for inviting me to speak this morning. Agriculture and water have a critical relationship. Water, food security and national security are inextricably linked. Agriculture, the driver of food security, is limited

Agriculture committee  I think it's important to understand the limits that exist. When we think traditionally about this in the food context, we may think about what we can do along the supply chain and what tools are there, when that probably isn't the right place to try to look to help this. Again,