Environment committee  Some of the research we are doing here is to look at plants that have an amazing ability to take pollutants out of water. Those are either hyperaccumulators or hyperdegraders of different types of contaminants. But the type of work we do is basically applied research, working with industry partners on specific problems.

Environment committee  They have various policies—

Environment committee  Actually, one of the main reasons why we put our own wetlands on the campus was to drought-proof our campus, because we know the benefit of the wetlands. In our own campus, for example, we don't even use municipal water or any type of water for use on the farm for irrigation. We use the same water that goes through our process year by year.

Environment committee  Thank you.

Environment committee  A national wetland inventory, first of all, provides us with the baseline information of where we are. The second thing is that the inventory is not only going to be the number of wetlands we have, but the types of wetlands. Therefore, over time, if there is going to be any change in the types of wetlands and in the functionality of the wetlands, we will be able to monitor those before it gets to a crisis situation.

Environment committee  Thank you very much. We really have to know where we are with the baseline information, where we are for us to know if we have accomplished anything, whether in the area of conservation or in the area of water quality. Can you hear me?

Environment committee  One of the things we have to do on a national basis is to be able to monitor what is happening in the wetlands. We have to develop a wetland monitoring process nationwide.

Environment committee  Currently we don't even have the details on any of the wetland functionality parameters across the country. I can go onto the Environment Canada website and get information on what the temperature is in Nunavut, or everything on what is happening in the Yukon. For our wetlands, which are a key resource to us, we don't even have information on what, for an area of land, is the quality of water in there at any particular time.

Environment committee  Yes, this is one of the areas that we are researching here, looking at the use of wetlands for treatment of grey water or polluted stormwater, in terms of increasing water quality so that it can be used for something else. Fortunately, we already have four municipalities that are working with us in that particular area.

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Honourable Pilon. Yes, our expectations have been on track. When you were here last year, it was under construction; it has been finished since then. We have acquired all the infrastructure that we require for our research activities and for monitoring. We currently have about three industry projects on site: one with the municipality, one with the agricultural industry, and one with...

Environment committee  Yes, sir, in the last little while, since your last visit, we have been working with different municipalities. Currently we are working with eight municipalities in...[Technical difficulty—Editor]...to use the same type of technology as was presented by colleagues from Ducks Unlimited.

Environment committee  I believe the federal government should play a leadership role, not just in wetlands, but in areas of environment, when it comes to environmental conservation and development. In this particular case, definitely, yes, I would suggest that similar research facilities be developed in different ecoclimate zones of this country, in different parts of this country, so that we create a network of this type of research facility across the country.

Environment committee  We need to protect our—

Environment committee  We have to protect our wetlands and protect aquatic ecosystems from quality degradation and quantitative depletion. We need to adopt a watershed approach in wetland management in this country so that wetland replacement and mitigation are within the same watershed of loss, not just within a water basin.

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. It is really my pleasure to be here today, and I count it a privilege to be invited, along with others, to be a witness at this committee. It was about a year ago, on May 16, 2012, that we had the privilege of having members of the committee—I think there were about six or seven of you—here at the college: the honourable François Choquette, the honourable François Pilon, the honourable Hedy Fry, the honourable James Lunney, the honourable Lawrence Toet, and the honourable Mark Warawa.