Question Period Note: Protection of the Great Lakes

Protection of the Great Lakes

• The Government of Canada is committed to the protection of the Great Lakes.
• In 2017, Canada committed $44.84 million over five years to the Great Lakes Protection Initiative (GLPI) to address environmental challenges affecting the lakes and support the delivery of the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the new Canada-Ontario Agreement on the Great Lakes, which came into force on June 1, 2021.
• The GLPI combines science and action to address priorities such as reducing phosphorus loadings to Lake Erie, restoring Areas of Concern, improving the health of coastal wetlands, identifying at-risk nearshore waters, reducing harmful chemicals, engaging Indigenous peoples, and increasing public engagement through citizen science.
• We will implement a strengthened Freshwater Action Plan, including a historic investment of $1 billion over 10 years to protect and restore Canada’s large lakes and river system.
• The Government of Canada is exploring approaches to further protect and restore the Great Lakes.

• The Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) has been a vital framework for ensuring binational cooperation and action to restore and maintain the water quality and ecological health of the Great Lakes for close to 50 years. The GLWQA was significantly revised in 2012 to respond to the most critical threats to environmental quality in the Great Lakes. Approaches to science and management were updated. Existing commitments to restore degraded Areas of Concern, and address the threat of excess nutrients, chemicals of mutual concern, discharges from vessels, as well as the necessary scientific research were reaffirmed. New commitments were added to address 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.
• 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the GLWQA, which will be celebrated during the fall 2022 Great Lakes Public Forum.
• 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 to 1971, which identify joint priorities and actions. A new 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (COA), for the period 2021-2026, came into force on June 1, 2021.
• The 2021 COA builds on the previous COA by bringing forward commitments to protect the lakes from excessive nutrients and harmful pollutants, clean up Areas of Concern, prevent the entry of aquatic invasive species, conserve important fish and wildlife habitats, as well as strengthen collaboration with the Great Lakes community and Indigenous peoples. The 2021 COA, for the first time, also addresses emerging issues related to the impacts of plastic pollution and excessive application of road salt, largely in response to concerns expressed by the Great Lakes community.
• Budget 2017 provided $70.5 million over five years for the protection of freshwater, including in the Great Lakes and Lake Winnipeg.
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