Draft 2020 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health: closed consultation

This consultation ran from July 5, 2019 to September 4, 2019.

We asked Canadians to review and comment on the draft agreement between Canada and Ontario to protect water quality and ecosystem health in the Great Lakes (PDF).

Who was the focus of this consultation

Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin.

Why we were consulting

Canada and Ontario have a long history of working together to improve conditions in the Great Lakes. Since 1971, federal and provincial agencies have cooperated under a series of Canada-Ontario Agreements (COA).

COA provides a 5 year work plan for how Canada and Ontario will work together to restore and protect the Great Lakes. It also describes how they will implement provisions of the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The 2014 COA expires in December 2019.

Canada and Ontario have negotiated a draft 2020 COA. The draft agreement includes commitments related to the following priorities:

• nutrients
• harmful pollutants
• wastewater and stormwater
• discharges from vessels
• Areas of Concern
• lakewide management
• aquatic invasive species
• habitat and species
• groundwater quality
• climate change impacts and resilience
• from awareness to action
• First Nations and the Great Lakes
• Métis and the Great Lakes

Related information

• Draft 2020 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (PDF)
• 2012 Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• Great Lakes protection

Contact us

Great Lakes National Program Office
Environment and Climate Change Canada
4905 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4

Email: greatlakes-grandlacs@ec.gc.ca