Evidence of meeting #31 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
Mr. Woodworth, we're going to have to leave future questions for another round, but thank you.
We'll move now to Ms. Leslie for seven minutes, please.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the commissioner and her team for being here.
It's nice to see all of you again.
I want to start with your chapter on environmental assessment. In the report, you say you have concerns that there are projects with serious impacts that may not be subject to environmental assessment. I wonder if you could describe for us what those kinds of projects are.
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
In our chapter, we mention, as one example, in situ oil sands. Extractions right now are not on the project list that has been developed, so that is one fairly large set of projects that is not on the list.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
That's correct. In situ is the steam-assisted—it's called SAGD—separation of the sand by drilling holes, separating it, and getting the oil back up.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
What would be some other examples of projects that could have serious environmental impacts and would not be assessed?
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Well, we looked at the issue of dredging, for example, which won't be part of it. There a few other examples, such as major chemical plants. There are some industrial mineral mines that would likely not be included.
Bruce may have others.
3:45 p.m.
Bruce Sloan Principal, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
I think there are some examples. The key point we wanted to raise is transparency on letting people understand how things are on the list or not—the rationale—so it improves the predictability and transparency of the process in the long term.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you. That's really helpful.
I want to go on. I don't know if any of you had the time to watch question period today, but probably not. You were probably preparing for this.
3:45 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
That's fair.
I did ask the minister a question about your report. She held up a quote—twice, no less—from a stakeholder. Essentially, she was communicating that it was disappointing that the environment commissioner missed.... Actually, I have the text here. It was that the commissioner was “omitting a big detail”, and that is information about cars and trucks and the renewable fuel regulations. It was said that you omitted a large detail when it came to emissions.
I just want to put this out there for you. Are you confident with your section on mitigating climate change? Are you confident with the numbers that say that government will not meet its target?
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
I am very confident about that. The issues of renewables and the transportation regulations are all detailed in our report. They're all in there.
October 8th, 2014 / 3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Okay. Thank you.
My next question is about fast-start financing. I think this is a really important thing that's been overlooked. On the fast-start financing, I'm very glad to see that Canada has fulfilled its commitment both financially and on time. That's really good news, but I am concerned about what kinds of projects are being funded and whether or not they're actually helping us bring down our GHG emissions.
I'm concerned about this because you hear about different projects that are being funded. One thing I heard about was the fact that we're helping to put solar panels on a mine in Chile. I just don't know if that's the kind of project that we meant to fund.
In your section about fast-start financing, you're very clear that you can't audit what's going on in these other countries, but you can audit our contribution. But is that normal? Are other countries just handing over the money and not tracking our emissions progress?
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
In fact, we're handing over the money and Environment Canada is tracking.
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
There are two main points on the fast-track financing.
One is that you're correct: the Government of Canada did fulfill its commitment. The money has been taken out of the government's coffers and put into multilateral banks. We recognize, however, that about 73% of it still hasn't hit the ground in terms of the proponents, so that's a concern.
The other one is the issue of the repayability of the loan, so approximately half of that.... That's just simply not made clear.
But we understand that departments are actually watching and tracking that.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Okay. I guess I was incorrect. I guess I'm thinking about the fact that we don't have any information yet about what the emissions reductions are, but they are being tracked.
3:45 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
That's correct, and they are tracking.
3:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Okay. Thanks.
Moving on to marine navigation in the Arctic, you have a recommendation for the coast guard. The coast guard needs to “assess the risks associated with projected increases in vessel traffic and changing environmental conditions,” etc.
I'm correct, I think, when I say your audit around marine navigation did not in any way touch on climate change and the impact climate change would have. I don't think that was part of the mandate of your audit.
3:50 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
In the beginning, in the introduction, we do mention that climate change is one of the reasons that vessel traffic will likely increase, but we don't go any further than that.
3:50 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
We looked at whether we are prepared for increased navigation in the Arctic and whether we have the aids and charts for navigation and whether we are providing the right level of service to increasing numbers of voyages in the Arctic.
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Okay. In your recommendation to consider the changing environmental conditions, is it safe to assume that those implicitly include ice levels that are changing because of climate change and the impacts of that climate change? Do the environmental conditions include those?
3:50 p.m.
Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
They include those.
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
So it's a recommendation for the government to take action on that.
How much time do I have left?