Ottawa extends funding for Experimental Lakes but reduces annual cash contribution

Ottawa has extended its funding but has reduced its annual cash commitmentforthe Experimental Lakes Area, the freshwater-science facilityencompassing dozens of lakesin northwestern Ontario.

KenoraMP Bob Nault and Montreal-area MP David Lametti, a parliamentary secretary to the federal science minister, visited the ELAfield station on Wednesday to extend a federal commitment to fund the 50-year-old research facility, which is operated by the International Institute of Sustainable Development, aWinnipeg-based non-profit organization.

The new federal cash replaces a two-year-old funding deal but actually reduces the Trudeau government's commitment to the facility. Ottawa plans to spend $1 million a year over the next four years on the ELA, after contributing$1.1 milliona year in 2016 and 2017.

The new money is earmarked for long-term environmental monitoring that allows scientists to continue gathering baseline data about water chemistry, climate and aquatic life in the sprawling outdoor laboratory.

"It's huge for us," said Vince Palace, chief scientist at the ELA. "Without that database, without that baseline data of year-to-year variability chemically, physically, biologically we can't really make any conclusions about the various manipulations that we have.

"That long-term data set is the biggest commodity we have in terms of attracting other researchers."

• Experimental Lakes Area breathes new life into scientific research

Founded in 1968 by the federal government, the ELA encompasses hundreds of small lakes scattered about a sprawling rectangle of Crown land about 75 kilometres east of Kenora.

ELAscientists manipulate entire lakes over the course of years or even decades for the sakeof freshwater science.

Although theyhave permission to conduct experimentson 58 of these lakes, theytypically manipulate onlythree to five in any given year.Other bodies of water serve as control lakes or are recovering from previous experiments.

In previous years, ELAscientists have demonstrated how phosphates, acid rain and mercury affect lakes. This summer,scientists have added small quantities of diluted bitumen and conventional crude to ELA bodies of water to simulate the effects of oil spills.

Other researchers have placed selenium in water enclosures in order to study how quickly the naturally occurring element, which is released into the environment in large quantities due tomining activity, is taken up by fish, invertebrates and plankton.

• Scientists plan simulated oil spills in northwestern Ontario

The Liberal governmentcontinues to use this episodeas a battering ram against the Conservatives, now in opposition, despite the drop in federal funding this year for the ELA.

"I was sick and tired of the way science was beingtreated and the way scientists were being treated," Lamettitold a gathering of ELAresearchers on Wednesday, claiming his government has reversed a Conservative policy.

The ELAoperates on a $4.5-million annual budget. The Ontario government provides $2 million a year under a deal that will expire in March 2019.

Nault said he expects Ontario's new Progressive Conservative government to continue funding the facility, even though he concedes he has not spoken to his counterparts at Queen's Park.

"We have a provincial member of parliament who is very active and involved and interested in this site and wants it to continue," said Nault, referring to PC Kenora-Rainy River MPPGreg Rickford.

Manitoba'sProgressive Conservative government indirectly supports the ELAthrough an annual $1-millioncontribution to the International Institute for Sustainable Development.