Environment committee  I think this question came up a bit during the last session, with Nutrien. We work with a partnership collaborative in Ontario called ALUS, which is the acronym for Alternative Land Use Services. It's a fantastic program that is able to engage farmers and other partners directly to look at edge-of-field solutions, which could be taking out marginalized land and putting in habitats that are positive for addressing climate change and for biodiversity.

Environment committee  That's another great question. As I mentioned before, the health of the Great Lakes is increasingly driven by what is happening in the watershed and upstream. I think that, over the next 50 years, if we're really going to understand change and risks to the lakes, we're going to have to do a better job, at least in the case of Ontario, of working hand in hand with the provincial government, with large cities and with rural communities to make sure that we understand what those risks are with respect to point sources of pollution, non-point sources of pollution and the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes coastlines, and try to tackle these issues in a collaborative way.

Environment committee  It's a great question, and thank you for it. There are really two main mechanisms where that work happens, the first being the Boundary Waters Treaty from 1909. More recently, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement from 1972 is really the framework that brings both federal governments together alongside Ontario and Quebec, the eight Great Lakes states, first nations and many others to look at how we are trying not only to restore the Great Lakes from past challenges we've seen from industrial development and urban development but to protect the Great Lakes for future generations.

Environment committee  We can drink the water, but when it's treated. There are high levels of nutrients in Lake Erie that are causing toxic algae blooms. There are 20 million pounds of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes; it's not just an oceans problem. We're still seeing restrictions on the type and amount of fish you can eat.

Environment committee  It's fair to say that over the last decade—and technology has certainly helped with this—we can do a much better job of identifying point sources of pollution and non-point sources of pollution. For point sources, we know it's end of pipe. We know where it's coming from. Non-point, not so much, but there is technology that allows us to be able to identify where that non-point source pollution might be coming from.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I'm pleased to be here today to offer some freshwater perspectives from the standpoint of the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region, which is shared by the United States and Canada, comprises eight states—from New York to Minnesota—and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Finance committee  That's a good question. I don't think that issue has been talked about enough. My understanding is that the Canada-United States free trade agreement would not come into force if NAFTA were to be terminated, and that the default would be most favoured nation status through WTO rules.

Finance committee  I think it's fair to say that if you're in business in the Great Lakes region and you have operations on both sides of the border, you're thinking about plans B and C. Three months ago I was probably more of an optimist about where we started, but I'm probably sitting at about 50/50 with respect to where we're going with the negotiations from a modernization standpoint.

Finance committee  To support Robert's point, any public sector procurement of innovative technology has to become a policy and a practice. Industrialized economies like the United States are very much front and centre in helping de-risk R and D and commercialization by acting as both an investor in the innovation cycle as well as first adopter and buyer of promising technology products and services.

Finance committee  I would say that it applies very equally to Mexico. I would be the first to say that most people have an outdated view of Mexico. Before I took on this job, I was the lead adviser for North America for the Privy Council Office, and it was astonishing to me how outdated people's views are on Mexico.

Finance committee  I think it's positive news that they seem to have moved away from a border adjustment tax. That's a good thing. You never know in the U.S. system whether or not it will be brought back, but for now there's less talk of a border adjustment tax. In terms of domestic tax policy, obviously it's something that as a government we need to consider because of the interconnected nature of our economies and what the tax structures will mean for multinational businesses as well as for small businesses that are looking to scale and grow and export or import.

Finance committee  You'd like three points. That's a tough one.

Finance committee  In no order of preference or priority, as we move to that innovation economy and we are looking at the movement and storage of data, data localization is increasingly going to be an important issue for both the Canadian and the U.S. economies. I think we have to be open to unique possibilities around what that would look like in a trade agreement.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. It's a very good question. When I talk about being mobile, I talk about it in three perspectives. One is mobility in Canada, and how we look at accreditation and certification of skilled labourers in Canada from province to province. That is an issue that in part can be addressed through the new Canada free trade agreement.

Finance committee  Thank you, sir, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. As the record shows, my name is Mark Fisher. I'm the president and CEO of the Council of the Great Lakes Region. I'm also pleased to have with us today one of my board members, Rakesh Naidu, the COO of the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation.