OTTAWA. Ont. — Federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault has written to his Saskatchewan counterpart to clarify what Environment and Climate Change Canada employees were doing near a Pense, Sask., dugout in mid-August.
After a social media post from a farmer, the Saskatchewan government demanded to know, in a tweet containing a letter to Guilbeault, why federal employees were trespassing and checking the water in dugouts.
Guilbeault chastised Jeremy Cockrill for spreading misinformation by publicly posting the letter accusing the employees of testing for nitrates.
“You brought this matter to my attention in your very public and very frank letter of Aug. 21,” Guilbeault wrote. “I also took note of your comments openly speculating about the work of these scientists. Please allow me to be equally frank and public in my response: departmental officials are not testing water for nitrates or nutrients related to farm runoff, and their study is not related to the non-regulated, voluntary goals of the Government of Canada in an effort to reduce emissions from agricultural fertilizers.”
The minister said claims made in the media about this incident come on top of other recent misinformation that misrepresents “work that is voluntary, unregulated and being done in partnership with Canadian farmers to reduce emissions, not fertilizer use.”
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