Ontario government proposes more water legislation
Thursday, February 28, 2013
by SUSAN MANN
Ontario is already swimming in water legislation and it’s about to get some more. But farm leaders don’t know yet how this latest piece of legislation, Bill 6, Great Lakes Protection Act, 2013, will affect the agricultural industry.
Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley reintroduced the bill in the Ontario legislature on Monday. It was first introduced last June but died on the order table when former premier Dalton McGuinty prorogued the Ontario legislature last October.
Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales says there are many features in the bill that look similar to the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, which works very well. “As long as they follow that model, we’re good. But if they try to change a lot of the activities that farmers do on the landscape and they try to really impact farm practices, then that’s what we really have to watch for.”
Wales says the federation plans to meet with environment ministry officials to figure out “what are the real parameters of this because we already have lots of water legislation” in the province.
The other pieces of legislation governing water matters in the province are: the Clean Water Act that includes the source water committees and their source water protection plans, which will be coming into force sometime this year; the Nutrient Management Act that affects what farmers do with nutrients on the land; and the Ontario Water Resources Act, which covers water uses.
“The key is that this one (Bill 6) doesn’t get in the way” and create new problems, he says, noting the farm sector understands the other Acts and is able to work within them.
Lorne Small, president of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, says the bill is vague on how lakefront groups will operate to protect the lakes. And the federation is concerned about that vagueness. Small says they’re uneasy about the idea of giving lakefront groups a lot of say in what happens upstream in agricultural areas. The proposal to empower the lakefront groups to have a say in how the upper stream is managed is not clearly spelled out in the proposed legislation, he notes.
While it’s great the government wants to involve local people in local issues, “some of these groups are one issue groups and their objective is to use the front of being worried about the lakeshore for a lot of other agenda items,” he says, noting the idea of protecting the Great Lakes is admirable.
Small says they also wonder what some of the proposals will mean for agriculture. For example, there’s a part in the proposed act that deals with maintaining water levels in the Great Lakes. But if agriculture is going to prosper in the future it needs tile drainage and the ability to use irrigation. “We’re concerned protecting the Great Lakes will potentially interfere with good commercial applications of farm practices, mainly drainage and irrigation.”
Agriculture’s footprint on water in Ontario is “miniscule,” he says, noting that big water users in the province are municipalities and hydro generation. Water use by livestock and crop sectors for irrigation is less than one per cent of the total usage in Ontario. Yet people driving Ontario’s highways and seeing irrigation guns operating say farmers are wasting water.
“We’re concerned we’ll get side-swiped because we’re visible,” Small says.
Ontario Environment Ministry spokesman Lindsay Davidson says by email the Great Lakes are vitally important to Ontarians for their drinking water, quality of life and prosperity. “We need to restore them now to continue to enjoy their benefits for this and future generations.”
But new challenges are overwhelming old solutions and that’s why Ontario needs new initiatives to help the Great Lakes. “The proposed Great Lakes Protection Act is designed to address these issues and give the province new tools to restore and protect our Great Lakes so they are drinkable, swimmable and fishable,” Davidson says.
Bill 6 proposes the establishment of a Great Lakes Guardians’ Council to provide a collaborative forum to identify priorities and potential partnerships. The agricultural sector would be invited to participate in the council along with others, such as municipal, business, environmental and aboriginal representatives.
Davidson says Ontario recognizes the contributions made by the agricultural sector through the promotion of innovative technologies and best management practices and looks forward to working with all groups throughout the legislative process.
Environmental groups are pleased the proposed legislation is back before the legislature. Six environmental groups that have formed the Great Lakes Protection Act Alliance say in a Feb. 25 press release they are delighted Bradley has reintroduced the bill as the new government’s first legislative agenda item. The alliance states it looks forward to working with all parties to support the passage of legislation that improves water quality, wetlands, beaches and coastlines, biodiversity and recreational opportunities and sets clear targets that will be publicly reported. BF