OTTAWA, ON - Vance Badawey Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre and Co-Chair of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Taskforce, was pleased to see our Liberal Government has made a decisive decision to be the first Federal Government in forty years to fully fund the binational treaty organization Great Lakes Fishery Commission in today’s budget.

Canada and the United States co-fund the Commission’s work under a treaty of 1954 called the Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The Commission’s program protects and improves the $8 billion Great Lakes fishery and Canada, before today, had been providing less than what the treaty requires. Today’s budget will ensure Canada makes essential investments to sustain the fishery, which we share with the United States.

It also paves the way for an improvement in support for the Commission by moving the fiduciary from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to Canada’s diplomatic agency, Global Affairs Canada.

Badawey said: “Investing in the Great Lakes fishery is good for the “triple bottom line”: the fishery contributes $8 billion in economic return each year, the fishery is integral to our culture, and a healthy fishery means a healthy environment.”

Badawey added: “We often forget that the Great Lakes fishery is a binational system; the border between Canada and the United States runs through four of five Great Lakes and through all of the connecting channels like the St. Lawrence and the Niagara River. That means Canada and the United States must continue to work together. This promise, which our two nations made nearly seventy years ago, has resulted in a highly cooperative, synergistic relationship that focuses on our shared vision for a healthy, vibrant fishery. The fishery is as valuable as it is today because of this commitment to cooperation.”

Badawey continued: “This budget has brought Canada back to the Great Lakes table as a full and engaged partner. Now the real work begins on the other elements of the Liberal Government’s Great Lakes agenda such as: Great Lakes Restoration Fund, Blue Economy Strategy, Canada Water Agency, and the Fresh Water Action Plan.”

“The Great Lakes Fishery Commission appreciates Mr. Badawey’s leadership through the Parliamentary Great Lakes Task Force,” said James McKane, the Commission’s Co-Chair. “I am now happy to have the ability to sit with my U.S. counterparts on this important commission as an equal partner. With full funding from Canada now secured, we are eager to ratchet up our work to improve and protect this incredible resource.”

Canada is back at the table.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission consists of commissioners appointed by the Privy Council of Canada and the President of the United States. Under the treaty, the Commission implements a comprehensive science program that serves as the foundation for fishery management decisions and helps the U.S. states, the Province of Ontario, and the tribes coordinate their myriad fishery management policies. The Commission also is responsible for controlling the destructive sea lamprey, an invasive species that entered the Great Lakes and wreaked economic and ecological havoc until the Commission brought them under control starting around 1960. Each sea lamprey will kill up to 20 kg of Great Lakes fish, and the 95% reduction in sea lamprey populations, thanks to the treaty, has contributed significantly to the value of the fishery we enjoy today. Without sea lamprey control, the fishery would not exist as we know it. Sea lamprey control is carried out under contract with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information about sea lampreys and the control program, visit www.glfc.org.