Skip to contentOntario.caFrançais

Existing legislation

Ontario has laws to prevent water, air and land pollution. We enforce these laws every day – and that work helps to prevent problems from happening.

Some of this legislation focuses specifically on protecting our water and conserving our water resources. The links below will take you to the legislation section of our site, where you'll find a brief description of each piece of legislation and the option to link to their full official versions:

Acts protecting the Great Lakes

• Clean Water Act
• The Nutrient Management Act
• Ontario Water Resources Act
• Environmental Protection Act
• Water Opportunities Act

Existing Partnerships

Many of our goals and objectives for Great Lakes protection are set out in The Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA)

Those goals include:

• protecting and restoring habitat
• preventing pollution
• cleaning up environmental hotspots
• and working with partners to advance goals and objectives for lakewide sustainability
• The COA establishes an action plan, as well as clear roles and responsibilities among federal and provincial ministries, and helps Canada meet its commitments under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Strong collaboration

Ontario works with hundreds of partners on hundreds of projects to meet our goals under the COA to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

Municipalities, conservation authorities, Aboriginal communities and organizations, non-government organizations, academic institutions, industry, farmers and others, all work together to help clean up and protect the Great Lakes. The following links will take you to more information on some of these alliances.

• The Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA)
  • Binational Great Lakes partnerships (Lakewide Management Plans)
  • Memorandum of Cooperation Regarding Collaboration in Support of the COA (Between Ontario and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative)
    • 2012 - Memorandum of Cooperation
    • 2007 - Memorandum of Cooperation
  • Upcoming Negotiations for a New Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great LakesBasin Ecosystem (COA)
  • On Environment Canada's site: Remedial action plans
  • On the Ministry of Natural Resources' (MNR) site: MNR's Great Lakes program
  • On the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' (OMAFRA) site: OMAFRA's Great Lakes program
• Healthy Lake Huron – a partnership of more than 20 government organizations, industry and community groups focusing on reducing nuisance algae and beach postings along Lake Huron’s southeast shoreline.
• The Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

While COA and the GLWQA are focussed on water quality and aquatic ecosystem health, the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Sustainable Water Resources Agreement focuses on the protection of water quantity.

• Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement
• Ontario’s Water Conservation And Efficiency Goals, Objectives and Programs (in Accordance with The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement)

Media about collaboration efforts

• Ontario's Great Lakes Beaches And Coasts To Benefit From Collaboration -– Ministers and Mayors Meet At Summit (June 1, 2010)
• Backgrounder: Provincial and Municipal Great Lakes Partnerships (June 1, 2010)
• Backgrounder: Ontario and Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Areas of Cooperation (June 1, 2010)