Evidence of meeting #34 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regulations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Correct. No. When we go to press, yes.... But the report you're referring to showed a two million tonne increase, which was a lot lower than how much the economy grew.
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Yes.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
So would you then agree—we've been talking about the sector-by-sector regulatory approach—that there is an economic cost or an economic impact to implementing regulations on any economic sector?
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Absolutely, yes.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
Great. Would you agree, then, that it's also prudent to ensure that these economic costs are reviewed accurately prior to implementing any such regulations?
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Yes. It's actually a requirement. It's a requirement of the federal government that, for all regulations proposed, the costs and the benefits are worked out before.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
Several of our regulatory approaches have not been published yet—as you mentioned, the coal-fired regulatory approach, oil and gas, and heavy duty transport. Given that these are market-influencing regulations, it perhaps would not be prudent to publish costs before the regulations have been published. Is that correct?
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Well, that would be a policy decision. What we've said is that right now the overall costs of all the regulations together on the Canadian economy is unknown. Whether it's prudent or not—
3:35 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
—that would be a policy decision.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
Would you say that might be related to the fact that the regulations have not been published yet?
3:40 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Well, I can tell you that under Turning the Corner for the regulatory framework, there was an overall cost estimation of that entire approach, which represented, as you know, about 85% of the government's projected emission reductions.
For Turning the Corner, the government was able to do what the whole package would cost. So what we've said is, what will the whole package cost to 2020? Also, that isn't down to $500,000; it's down to just giving an overall ballpark on what the cost is.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
As you mentioned earlier, it is a legal requirement to ensure that this economic costing is done, and that's likely done as part of the regulatory process in consultation with the stakeholder groups that are going to be tasked with implementing it, effective.... So then would you agree that it is prudent to issue that costing after the full consultation has been completed and the regulations have been published?
3:40 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Prudent or not, as I say, that would be a policy decision. There is a regulatory process. The regulatory process is that—you're quite right—there is a RIAS and it's published. They are published once the consultations are...there's a good idea of what the regulation would look like.
But I think what we've said is, how much will the 2020, in general, cost? Is it going to be less, for example, than the Kyoto period? Is it going to be more than the Kyoto period?
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
But that data might be available, perhaps, when the regulations are published.
3:40 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
They have to be when the regulations are published. Yes, you're quite right.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
Again, just to clarify the earlier statement, the data set that your report was based on was not based on the spring report of greenhouse gas emissions that was published in May.
3:40 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
No, because by then we have cleared all the report from Environment Canada. It was the most recent data up until, say, the end of March 2012.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
In your report, you talked a little about the reporting requirements under the KPIA. In this and previous audits that you've undertaken with the KPIA, you've indicated that Environment Canada has improved its reporting under the act. Can you give us a sense of the improvements that have resulted from your recommendations and perhaps benchmark that internationally?
3:40 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Yes, with pleasure.
I'm just going to say that we've been very clear that Environment Canada has done a better job consistently, year after year, in each of the annual climate change reports. The reports are more robust. They're more detailed. They're more transparent. They're more inclusive.
So across the board, this has been a one-direction improvement in the work that Environment Canada has been doing. We actually gave a highlight of the level of details that Environment Canada has provided in its reports from one year to the next. Going from 2007 to the most recent, it's a noticeable improvement.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Mark Warawa
The time has expired. Thank you so much.
Ms. Leslie, you have seven minutes.
3:40 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the whole team that's here.
In light of what we heard at the press conference this morning from the environment commissioner and what we heard today in his brief about contaminated sites, I would like to give notice of motion. I have given a copy to translation so that hopefully they can translate along with me while I read it into the record. It states:
That the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development immediately commence a study regarding the subject matter of the sections of C-38, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures, which directly fall within the mandate of this Committee, namely Part 3, Division 1, Environmental Assessment, Enactment of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012; Part 3, Division 6, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 1999; Part 3, Division 7, Species at Risk Act; Part 4, Division 9, Parks Canada Agency Act; Part 4, Division 38, Coasting Trade Act; Part 4, Division 40, National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Act; Part 4, Division 53, Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.
That's my notice of motion. We'll distribute bilingual copies as soon as we can.
I'd like to hand over the rest of my time to my colleague, Madam Quach.
May 8th, 2012 / 3:40 p.m.
NDP
Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
I would like to thank my colleague Megan.
I would also like to thank the witnesses for joining us today.
Mr. Vaughan, what are your recommendations in terms of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act? With the recent Bill C-38 and the budget, we feel that the government has weakened the act by slashing the budget of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Could you tell us what the strengths and weaknesses of the environmental act are?