Question Period Note: Great Lakes Restoration and Protection

Great Lakes Restoration and Protection

• The Government of Canada is committed to restoring and protecting the Great Lakes, through science, action, and collaboration with the United States, Ontario and other partners.

• Collaborative efforts to date have resulted in significant progress, including cleaning-up contaminated sites, tackling toxic and nuisance algae and reducing the release of polluting substances; and improving understanding of the impacts of climate change.

• In 2017, through the Freshwater Action Plan, Canada committed $44.84 million over five years to the Great Lakes Protection Initiative in order to take action to address the most significant environmental challenges affecting Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health.

• This funding supports efforts on priorities such as reducing phosphorus loadings to Lake Erie, assessing and enhancing the resilience of Great Lakes coastal wetlands, evaluating and identifying at-risk nearshore waters, reducing releases of harmful chemicals, engaging Indigenous Peoples and increasing public engagement through citizen science.

• The Canada–United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) has been an important framework for ensuring binational consultation and cooperative action to restore, protect and enhance the water quality and ecological health of the Great Lakes since first signed in 1972. The 2012 GLWQA, which entered into force on February 12, 2013, modernized existing provisions related to excessive algae growth, chemicals, ship pollution and scientific research, and also incorporated, for the first time, commitments to address other significant challenges to Great Lakes water quality including the threat from aquatic invasive species and climate change, as well as the loss of habitat and species.

• To help meet Canada's obligations under the GLWQA, the governments of Canada and Ontario cooperate and coordinate their activities to restore, protect and conserve Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health through a series of Canada-Ontario Agreements dating back over 40 years, which identify joint priorities and actions. The current 2014 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (COA) entered into force on December 18, 2014 and expires December 2019. Canada and Ontario are in the process of renegotiating a new COA. A draft 2020 COA was posted on July 5, 2019 for a 60-day public comment period. Following the consideration of the public input, Canada and Ontario will work to finalize the Agreement in 2020.

• Canada delivers on its Great Lakes commitments through national programs and through a suite of targeted Great Lakes specific programs.

• Budget 2017 provided $70.5 million over five years for Great Lakes and Lake Winnipeg Basin programming proposed under the Freshwater Action Plan. The Budget 2017 Great Lakes allocation ($44.84 million over five years) is combined with ongoing resources of
$8 million annually to deliver the Great Lakes Protection Initiative.

• Through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative, the Government of Canada takes action to address the most significant environmental challenges affecting Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health by delivering on Canada’s commitments under the GLWQA, as well as the COA. The Initiative focuses on eight priority areas for action:

1. working with others to protect the Great Lakes;
2. restoring Great Lakes Areas of Concern;
3. preventing toxic and nuisance algae;
4. assessing and enhancing the resilience of Great Lakes coastal wetlands;
5. evaluating and identifying at risk nearshore waters;
6. reducing releases of harmful chemicals;
7. engaging Indigenous Peoples in addressing Great Lakes issues; and
8. increasing public engagement through citizen science.

• Other federal departments contribute to the restoration and the protection of the Great Lakes through their own programs. For instance, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (through $43.8 million over 5 years announced in 2017) are tackling the threat of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes, which includes up to $20 million to expand activities within the Asian Carp Program in the Canadian Great Lakes.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office