COMMENTARY — New Accord encourages partnership

The signing of Canada’s Intergovernmental Geoscience Accord is clear evidence of the desire by all governments to meet the challenges of delivering high-quality, essential services.

Signed during the Mines Ministers’ Conference in Yellowknife, N.W.T., in September, the precedent-setting accord establishes a framework for partnerships between the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and its provincial and territorial counterparts. It also gives industry a much larger role in setting targets and overall geoscience policy. This new partnership will help maximize the productivity of the world-class expertise that resides in federal-provincial and federal-territorial geological surveys in Canada.

The new geological map of Canada, also unveiled in Yellowknife last month, exemplifies the importance of the accord. The map, only the third of its kind since 1863, provides a graphic illustration of the landmass our geologists must study. By co-ordinating our efforts, we improve our understanding of Canada’s landmass, the mineral and hydrocarbon potential of which is so important to sustainable development, jobs and economic growth.

Optimizing resources by pooling our financial and human resources, shaping our expertise and setting clear jurisdictional responsibilities is the approach of the new accord.

It provides a framework for the federal government, provinces and territories to set up geoscience programs that promote economic development and support resource management. Geoscience knowledge is the basis for sustainable development, mineral exploration, land use planning and environmental protection.

The accord also confirms provincial and territorial roles in the approval of federal geoscience projects within their respective boundaries. Meanwhile, the federal government commits to maintaining its national and international responsibilities, such as marine and coastal mapping.

With this accord, provincial, territorial and federal geoscience agencies now have a structure to negotiate bilateral and multilateral agreements with the GSC — agreements that will prioritize needs and integrate work plans.

Each of these agreements will be managed by a federal-provincial or federal-territorial co-ordinating committee, which includes representatives from both levels of government. Committee members will work as a team to set priorities and strategy. The goals of the bilateral agreements will reflect a truly regional and collaborative approach to Canada’s overall geoscience policy.

To ensure success, each bilateral agreement will be subject to a series of reality checks. A joint industry-government liaison committee will be established in each province and territory to evaluate annual work plans, and to ensure targets are met. In addition, the National Geological Surveys Committee will periodically convene workshops across Canada to look at the broader picture and share in results from other regions.

Successful precedents for reaching bilateral agreements already exist. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick signed separate bilateral agreements for geoscience with the federal government in November 1995.

In New Brunswick, representatives of the GSC and the provincial geological survey met for two days to develop and refine a 3-year business plan for geoscience activity in the province. The plan is sensitive to the needs of a multi-stakeholder client base.

The GSC’s Extech program in New Brunswick also provides another model for the type of federal-provincial co-operative programs that we envisage will flow from these bilateral agreements. For instance, the selection of the Bathurst lead-zinc mining camp there as a site for the development of new technologies has yielded returns at both local and national levels. Not only was additional mining potential discovered within the region, but the entire Canadian exploration industry now has access to the results of this benchmark study.

Geology will continue to play a key role in the development of Canada.

Through this accord, we can ensure that sectors dependent on geoscience meet the challenges of the next century. In adopting this “Team Canada” approach, Canada will remain globally competitive.

While Quebec did not sign the accord, the province has stated it will continue to work with the GSC on a bilateral basis, thus ensuring that its industry will still benefit from the principles of the accord. At the GSC, we continue to build on our existing working relationship with Quebec. In an era of diminishing financial and human resources, we must seek every opportunity to eliminate jurisdictional overlap and build on our collective strengths.

My commitment to making this new partnership work goes beyond immediate gains in geoscience. I believe that intergovernmental accords of this kind could well become models for collaborative initiatives in other areas of our economy.

— The author is the federal Minister of Natural Resources.