Environment Committee on Nov. 26th, 2014

[Michael Martin]

Well, U.S. Steel, which is the successor of—

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

—Stelco.

[Michael Martin]

—Stelco, is a partner in that. They're providing steel actually to support the construction of the berms in the containment area that will ultimately be built.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

That's interesting. Thank you.

I'm not very good at reading these supplementary estimates (B), so if you could give me a hand, I noticed a line item under the national conservation plan, the habitat stewardship contribution program, under grants. I'm not sure which number I'm supposed to be looking at, whether it's $11 million, $2 million, or $14 million, but perhaps you could elaborate on what that program does, where the initiatives are taking place, and what amounts of funding are going toward grants and contributions.

[Michael Martin]

The habitat stewardship program was an existing program that was put in place to help implement recovery actions and habitat restoration in support of the Species at Risk Act. We have expanded that program and, as I mentioned, created a new stream of activity to really be preventative in its focus.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

I am sorry, Deputy Minister, but I unfortunately have to interrupt you to be fair to the other speakers. However, I am sure that you will be able to take the floor at a later time and continue the discussion on the issue.

Thank you, Ms. Ambler.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Bevington for five minutes.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

I just want to follow up on some of the questioning by Madam Freeman.

Within Parks Canada you have the same requirement to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by 17%. How is that going for you?

[Alan Latourelle]

We are on target.

I can provide the latest information to this committee. We've been on target and we are taking our roles responsibly. We've significantly reduced, for example, our fleet, and even for the fleet that we now have we've used different standards to make sure we meet our objectives. The same applies to a lot of the equipment we use in an office setting. We have targets, as do all departments, for different parts of our operations.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Is there any money earmarked in these capital projects for that type of work?

[Alan Latourelle]

Mr. Chair, often if we're going to rehabilitate a building, for example, as part of the rehabilitation, we look at energy improvement.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Is there no specific money for that?

[Alan Latourelle]

Well, we have money within our existing budget that we invest for such things as greening our fleet, replacing our fleet, and buying all of our general equipment in the office setting for major buildings, because usually it is very expensive. As we do a major rehabilitation of the building, we look at that and try to find economies. In fact there's an incentive for us to do that.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Do you think the 17% is a good number for Parks Canada? Parks Canada is a bit like Defence in that it has lots of vehicles on the road and it has lots of infrastructure in comparison with many other branches of the environment department. Are you at 17% reduction by 2020, or are you at a higher figure that would represent the larger volume of greenhouse gas emissions you produce?

[Alan Latourelle]

Mr. Chair, as is the case for all departments, our objective is to be at 17% by 2020. The challenge and the reality we have, which people may not always appreciate, is that we have a very significant fleet of heavy equipment, which includes, for example, the snowplows for the Trans-Canada Highway and so on. For those, we take the best of class when we purchase. Those have long life cycles, so as we replace them.... We are doing our share, and in fact we were recognized three years ago for federal leadership in that field.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Bloom, how are you doing, sir? It's good to see you here. Although you're not the largest department here, you're certainly vital to my constituents.

Do you have a breakdown that's readily available for the funding that's been provided to the three territories?

[Mitch Bloom]

Yes. I don't have it with me, but we produce that on a yearly basis in order to monitor how the funds are being spent. I can generally tell you there is virtually identical and equitable distribution among the three.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

That's by population, I imagine.

[Mitch Bloom]

No, that's just by amount. The three amounts are about equal among the three territories. It's not based on per capita calculations.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

So the Northwest Territories takes a bit of a hit then.

[Mitch Bloom]

It's not per capita, sir.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Not per capita?

[Mitch Bloom]

No, we don't distribute it that way.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

But that's the reality of the north, isn't it? In the Northwest Territories our GDP is quite a bit larger than it is in the other two territories. Is that correct?

[Mitch Bloom]

Contribution programming, as you know, is based on the parameters of our programs. It's based on who submits. It's based on meeting those parameters and the approvals around them. It's impossible to actually allocate on that basis.

That being said, as I pointed out, the distribution has worked out quite equitably among the three, but it's not based on GDP or population. Other services and investments, like the one we discussed today, sometimes target particular territories to particular opportunities, including the Northwest Territories.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

What's the policy of your agency when it comes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?