Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment Chester Gillan will serve as President of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) for 2001-2002.
Minister Gillan assumed the presidency at the close of the CCME Ministers meeting in The Pas, Manitoba, Sunday.
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment is comprised of environment ministers from the federal, provincial and territorial governments. They usually meet twice a year to discuss national environmental priorities and determine work to be carried out under the auspices of CCME.
"I am looking forward to working with my colleagues across Canada to address some of the many environmental challenges we face," said Minister Gillan, commenting on the year ahead. "Issues such as climate change, safe drinking water and clean air are central to our quality of life here in Prince Edward Island and throughout the country."
Many of those issues were on the agenda at the Ministers' meeting in Manitoba on the weekend.
While responsibility for drinking water falls primarily within provincial jurisdiction, ensuring Canadians enjoy safe drinking water now and in the future is a nation-wide concern. Ministers at the CCME meeting re-affirmed their commitment to clean, safe water for all Canadians and initiated several collaborative actions. They include reviewing water quality guidelines, and setting research priorities for addressing water quality issues.
Other discussion at the meeting focussed on health and the environment, in particular the special vulnerability of children to environmental contaminants. Ministers discussed the cosmetic use of pesticides and agreed that an acceleration of the re-evaluation program for existing pesticides, along with initiatives to encourage the use of bio-pesticides and improve pesticide labels would contribute to the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development in pest management.
On the international front, discussion at the CCME meeting focussed on climate change and Canada's next steps in response to the Kyoto Protocol. Ministers praised the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers for their agreement in August to significantly reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions.
In other items on the agenda, Ministers at the CCME meeting continued progress on improving water and air quality as they endorsed two more Canada wide standards, for benzene phase II and mercury in dental amalgam waste, and began discussion on further standards for dioxins and furans. The Canada-wide standards process allows governments to work together to set priorities, develop standards and set out complementary strategies to achieve the standards. Most standards set numeric targets for reductions, timeframes to reach those targets, preliminary actions and a framework for monitoring progress.
It is anticipated that Minister Gillan will host two meetings of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in Prince Edward Island in 2002. Lewie Creed, PEI's Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment will serve as chair of the CCME Deputy Ministers Committee for 2001-2002.