2005 September Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Insurance for nuclear operators

8.29 Natural Resources Canada should begin preparatory work on revisions to the Nuclear Liability Act and submit policy proposals to the Minister by the end of 2005, in order to advance the commitment to bring forward revisions to the Act. (8.22–8.28)

Natural Resources Canada agrees with the recommendation. The Department is undertaking significant policy work to ensure that the revisions required to the Nuclear Liability Act are addressed. The Department commits to completing its work on developing policy proposals for revisions to the Act by the end of 2005. The timeframe for bringing forward any revisions will be established by the government once the policy work is completed.

Impacts of hog farming

8.58 In order to ensure that its compliance promotion and enforcement efforts related to hog farming are effective, Environment Canada should

• identify the regulated community,
• gather data on a national basis to direct or prioritize resources,
• monitor the impacts of its efforts, and
• keep comprehensive records on budgets and expenditures. (8.48–8.57)

Environment Canada agrees with the recommendation. It should be noted, however, that these recommended activities, although directed to hog farming, are relevant to all environmental issues where the Department has compliance promotion and enforcement responsibilities. The Department uses priority-setting mechanisms for both compliance promotion and enforcement activities under the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. These mechanisms allow for the consideration and prioritization of all issues, including hog farming.

Identification of all hog farms in Canada will be done in fiscal year 2006–07, in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and provinces. This will help Environment Canada identify watersheds with the greatest agricultural impacts across Canada, and compliance promotion and enforcement efforts regarding hog farming issues will be more easily directed to issues of highest priority. This priority-setting exercise would need to consider the ongoing efforts by provinces and others to reduce the environmental impacts of hog farming operations. For example, many provinces have recently developed nutrient management regulations, which are also supported by various voluntary measures under the Agricultural Policy Framework.

To improve monitoring of the impacts of its efforts, Environment Canada will continue to track its compliance promotion and enforcement activities. The Department will also continue to pilot a database that could be used nationally.

8.75 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada should clarify its approach to addressing the environmental impacts of hog farming and clearly communicate the approach to all stakeholders, in order to encourage a sustainable hog industry. The Department should also effectively communicate its beneficial management practices and monitor their implementation. (8.59–8.74)

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada accepts the recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General. The Department is developing a communications plan to address the Environment Element of the Agricultural Policy Framework. This includes communications to producers about environmental stewardship, farm planning, and beneficial management practices that relate to hog and other kinds of farming activities. To clarify the approach and communicate it to all its stakeholders, the Department will improve the Framework's Environment Element on its Web site. The site will provide national and provincial information, as well as appropriate links to program delivery agents. The link to ManureNet, a national Web site, will be made more prominent. This site is dedicated to manure management issues in Canada and provides information including research projects, acts, regulations, guidelines, fact sheets, and new technologies. The timeline for completing this project is March 2006. The Department also commits to improving the communication of its environmental strategy through the next Sustainable Development Strategy.

To communicate beneficial management practices, the Department will work to improve the availability of information for producers on relevant programs under the Agricultural Policy Framework. Direct communications with producers on beneficial management practices will also continue on a regional basis through provincial Environmental Farm Planning programs, and by provincial delivery agents of the National Farm Stewardship Program (NFSP). The timeline for completing this project is March 2006. To monitor the implementation of beneficial management practices, the Department will continue to collect information on implementation of these practices through delivery agents of the NFSP. Information will be stored in a national database. This information will also be used to support program refinements to foster increased implementation of the practices by all producers by March 2008. Through agri-environmental indicators, the Department will also continue to assess the broad impact of adopting beneficial management practices on the environment. Agri-environmental indicators are reported on a five-year basis, with the next report due in 2005.