News release
For immediate release
Newmarket (March 23, 2016) – Conservation Ontario participated – on behalf of Conservation Authorities – in the first Great Lakes Guardians’ Council meeting which was hosted by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) on March 22nd, coinciding with 2016 World Water Day.
“Given how much we rely on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system for daily benefits, it was very gratifying to see such a high level of commitment from senior government officials, First Nations, and from the wide variety of sector representatives such as municipal, agriculture, environment, and business,” said Bonnie Fox, Manager of Policy and Planning at Conservation Ontario.
Along with other participants, Conservation Ontario had an opportunity to share initial suggestions on Great Lakes priorities, Ms. Fox said.
“In response to the discussion, we indicated our support for sharing data (e.g MOECC / Conservation Ontario OPEN Portal) and information (e.g. Conservation Authority Watershed Report Cards) and acknowledged that more needs to be done to improve the capacity of Conservation Authorities to share data and to fill monitoring gaps upon which the watershed report cards are based. We suggested more focus on tributary monitoring and modelling to make the connection between the actions in the watersheds and whether they are having the anticipated benefits to Great Lakes water quality,” Ms. Fox said.
The Great Lakes Guardians’ Council was established by the Great Lakes Protection Act which was enacted in late 2015. The purpose of the Council is to provide a forum to identify priority actions, foster collaboration, share information and provide input on Great Lakes issues. The Council is chaired by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Honourable Glen Murray.
This first meeting of the Council discussed Great Lakes priorities and was an opportunity for parties committed to Great Lakes protection to introduce themselves.
Council members were also provided with the first Progress Report on the Province’s 2012 Great Lakes Strategy that was released yesterday. The Great Lakes Protection Act requires progress reports be presented once every three years.
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Conservation Ontario represents Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities, which are local watershed management agencies, mandated to ensure the conservation, restoration and responsible management of Ontario’s water, land and natural habitats through programs that balance human, environmental and economic needs.
For more information:
Bonnie Fox, Manager of Planning and Policy, Conservation Ontario
bfox@conservationontario.ca (905) 895-0716 ext 223