A New Approach to Environment and Fisheries Management; Less Red Tape and a Better Environment (Winnipeg)

Guest Speaker: Robert Sopuck, MP

Robert Sopuck will outline the changes Bill C-38 has made to the Fisheries Act and the governments’ actions to improve Environmental Assessments.  The talk will discuss the governments’ commitment to responsible natural resource development; the need to base decisions on science and the work Mr. Sopuck is directly involved in as Parliament makes recommendations to the Minister of Environment for a new National Conservation Plan.  Mr. Sopuck will discuss his views on the direction Canada should take with the new Conservation plan and what it means to be a right-wing environmentalist.

About the Guest:

Robert Sopuck is the Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette. He was first elected in the November 29^th, 2010 by-election and then re-elected in the 41st federal election on May 2nd of 2011. Over the years Bob farmed and operated an outfitting business, while working as a fisheries biologist. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba in 1973 and his Masters from Cornell University (1975) in Ithaca, New York where he trained as a Fisheries Biologist. During his career he has been a District Biologist for the Eastern Arctic for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, a Fisheries Biologist for the Province of Manitoba, Director of Environmental Programs with the Pine Falls Paper Company and Vice-President of Policy (Western Canada) for the Delta Waterfowl Foundation.  He was Director of the “Smart Green” environmental policy project and the “Rural Renaissance Project” for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy between 2002 and 2007. He has been on the Board of the Manitoba fisheries development group known as the Fish and Lake Improvement Program for the Parkland Region and the Board of the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. He was an Environmental Advisor for 8 years to Premier Gary Filmon's government during which he was a member of the Canadian Delegation to the 1992 Earth Summit and was on the Founding Board of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.  In October, 2007 he was appointed to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. Just prior to his election to the House of Commons he worked in the oil sands serving as the natural resources specialist with AMEC Earth and Environmental Limited and supervised an oil exploration and drilling program in Alberta during the winter of 2009/2010.  From 2002 until 2011 Bob enjoyed writing the hunting and outdoors column for the Winnipeg Free Press. Bob and his wife Caroline live on their farm near Sandy Lake, Manitoba where they have 320 acres of land under a conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. 

Event Details:

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