Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development EVIDENCE

43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development EVIDENCE NUMBER 009 Wednesday, December 2, 2020 Chair: Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia 1 Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development Wednesday, December 2, 2020 ● (1615) The Chair: Should we refuse to accept the entire document? [English] Mr. Joël Godin: Yes. The Chair (Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.)): I call the meeting to order. The Chair: I agree. That's to be expected. Good afternoon to the members of the committee and our wit‐ nesses for today. Mr. Joël Godin: What concerns me, Mr. Chair, is a document made available by the committee could give access to documents in I think we all know more or less the rules for how the committee English only or, because it goes both ways, in French only. proceeds. Both languages, of course, can be used at any time. When you're not speaking, we would appreciate if you could put your The Chair: If the link included in the document leads to a web Zoom on mute. page in one of the two official languages only, we must refuse to [Translation] accept the entire document. Mr. Joël Godin (Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, CPC): I have a Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ): Yes, that's it. point of order, Mr. Chair. The Chair: You have the floor, Mr. Godin. Mr. Joël Godin: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Joël Godin: Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Chair: Thank you for raising this important point. My colleague Monique Pauzé of the Bloc Québécois and I have asked the clerk to send you a note about a document sent to com‐ [English] mittee members. Unfortunately, it was a link to a document circu‐ lating on the web that is in English only. We're studying the estimates, and we have with us today the I'd like to see steps taken to ensure that all correspondence to Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Cli‐ members of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustain‐ mate Change. able Development is in both English and French. I would like peo‐ ple to ensure that documents are not submitted in only one lan‐ Welcome, Minister. It's nice to see you again, virtually. I can't re‐ guage. Otherwise, the documents will not be in order. Neither lan‐ member when the last time was that I saw you in person, but it's guage group should have an advantage or be at a disadvantage. good to see you virtually today. That's why I would like to see steps taken to prohibit distribution of these documents before they are fully translated. Otherwise, wit‐ We have, from the Department of the Environment, Christine nesses and organizations should be advised that they should not Hogan, deputy minister. We also have Carol Najm, assistant deputy provide documents in only one official language. minister, corporate services and finance branch, and Ron Hallman, president and chief executive officer of the Parks Canada Agency. The Chair: If I understood correctly, a brief or a document con‐ tains a link to a website, and this page on the website is in one lan‐ guage only. Is that correct? We'll start with the minister. Please go ahead, Minister. Mr. Joël Godin: Actually, it's a link to the website of the Pembi‐ Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson (Minister of Environment and Cli‐ na Institute, whose representatives appeared before the committee. mate Change): Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of The site has links to documents in English only. As francophone the committee. I'm certainly happy to be with you once again to parliamentarians, we feel we are at a disadvantage since we do not discuss the 2020-21 supplementary estimates (B) for Environment have access to the same information as our anglophone colleagues. and Climate Change Canada and the Parks Canada Agency. The Chair: In such cases, should the document simply be in‐ cluded without the link? I would like to start by recognizing that this meeting, or at least Mr. Joël Godin: Actually, no, the information should not be where I am situated, is taking place on the traditional territory of sent. the Algonquin people. 2 ENVI-09 December 2, 2020 Mr. Chair, last month, when we reviewed the 2020-21 main esti‐ [Translation] mates, I spoke about the essential work that Environment and Cli‐ mate Change Canada and the Parks Canada Agency perform for Now let's turn to Parks Canada. Canadians. Since then there have been significant developments, with the introduction of the Canada net zero emissions accountabil‐ This spring, Parks Canada temporarily suspended visitor access ity act, a central element of this government's strategy to achieve a and some services in an effort to support Canada's efforts to limit durable post-pandemic economic recovery and long-term prosperity the spread of COVID‑19. This temporary suspension led to a sig‐ in a low-carbon world. nificant shortfall in revenue for the agency for the 2020 visitor sea‐ son. On November 30 the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Fi‐ nance tabled the fall economic statement, which puts climate action Through the supplementary estimates (B) 2020‑21, the agency is at the centre of our plan to create a million jobs and make substan‐ seeking to increase its reference levels in the amount of al‐ tial investments in nature and nature-based climate solutions, in‐ most $84 million. cluding the government's plan to plant two billion trees. [English] [Translation] A resilient economy is not just a more inclusive economy, but al‐ The majority of this amount of money, $74 million, will be used so one that is sustainable, competitive and responsive to global de‐ to partially compensate the agency for the unexpected revenue mand. We are investing in meaningful climate measures. We know shortfall due to the decline in visitation from April 1 to September that failure to do so will only increase the costs and the risks of cli‐ 30, as well as for the remission of a portion of the annual payments mate change to all Canadians. on non-residential leases and licences of occupation to businesses located in sites administered by Parks Canada. The supplementaries The COVID‑19 pandemic has reminded us all of the importance will also support Parks Canada's collaborative effort with NRCan of early, sustained action to address systemic risks that threaten our by providing $2.2 million in funding to mitigate the impacts of the daily lives. The supplementary estimates (B) allow us to continue mountain pine beetle infestation in the Rocky Mountain national delivering on important programs, initiatives and regulations that parks in Alberta. protect the health, safety and security of Canadians, our economy and our environment. This funding also includes $7 million that is being moved from last year to this year to protect Canada's nature, parks and wild ● (1620) spaces in support of the impact benefit agreement with the Dehcho [English] First Nations and the establishment of the Nahanni National Park Reserve. The Environment and Climate Change Canada supplementary estimates (B) amount to a net increase of $5.2 million, bringing the Finally, there are transfers of $0.6 million from other government department's total authorities to $2,028,800,000. These funds sup‐ departments in relation to environmental and climate change activi‐ port significant priorities, such as implementing the pan-Canadian ties. framework and meeting our commitments under the Paris Agree‐ ment. They include an internal reallocation within the low-carbon Mr. Chair, I'm going to stop there. I hope this summary provides economy fund contributions of half a million dollars. This realloca‐ committee members with an overview of the 2020-21 supplemen‐ tion is necessary as provincial and territorial delays in submitting tary estimates (B). their proposals led to delays in accessing funding notionally allo‐ cated to them. This, in turn, impacted their ability to initiate ap‐ I'm certainly happy to engage with you in terms of questions and proved programs, lowering their capacity to spend the anticipated ideas that you may have. funding. The Chair: Thank you, Minister. There is a transfer of $3.4 million in grants and contributions to the Department of Natural Resources to support the Forests Ontario We'll go right into the round of questioning. We'll start with the 50-million-tree program, advancing nature-based climate solutions. six-minute round, starting with Mr. Albas. This funding will also help us to protect Canada's nature, parks and wild spaces through the Canada Nature fund, with a carry-over of Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, funding from 2019-20 that will increase its contributions by $1.3 CPC): Thank you, Mr. Chair. million. It will help improve the ecological integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem, with a transfer of $1 million to the Department of Minister, thank you for our service to our great country. Fisheries and Oceans. In addition, the supplementary estimates will also support the implementation of the Canada-wide strategy on ze‐ Minister, your party made a promise to plant two billion trees. I ro plastic waste, through a transfer of $5.3 million in grants and and many others assumed these were in addition to the trees already contributions to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research being planted in Canada, yet in your economic statement, you now Council and the Department of Crown-Indigenous Affairs to help say you won't actually be doing this; instead, you will be actually to develop plastics science. paying others to do the planting. December 2, 2020 ENVI-09 3 Is your actual plan just to put the taxpayer on the hook for trees Your economic statement also says that there will be no money that were already going to be planted by industry? for planting this year, a small amount for next year, and then it will eventually start to spin up a couple of years from now.

Load more