Thank you to all our witnesses for joining us.
Mrs. Paquerot, I hear tremendous passion in your words. Indeed, I had the opportunity to read the seventh chapter of the book you mentioned earlier. I invite all my colleagues to read it. It’s very interesting. It’s about the Canadian Water Agency and the blind spots that haven’t been addressed. It’s clear that water management is fraught with peril. Is water an industrial or economic resource, or is it part of the common heritage? Sadly, politicians often fail to address this issue. They neglect to legislate, or, if there are regulations, they choose not to apply them. This is what you are saying in particular in chapter 7.
On the subject of the Canadian Water Agency, you say that the very idea of a Canadian agency reproduces the problem associated with reconciling the two realities. That’s what we’re talking about. In your view, from a perspective of subsidiarity, the agencies or any other organization governing the 50 or so watersheds on Canadian soil should be consulted before such an initiative is launched.
As a matter of fact, we heard from a number of witnesses about the importance of watersheds. It was very interesting.
Could you tell us about the Canadian context? How could we set up a structure, like the Canadian Water Agency, that would truly improve the current situation? Above all, this structure would have to avoid encroaching on each level of government’s jurisdiction—let’s not forget that we’re in Canada.