Environment Committee on Nov. 26th, 2014

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Is there no indication of how much that is?

[Alan Latourelle]

We'll get confirmation very shortly.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Okay. Thanks.

I want to ask you one tiny question. Two or three years ago you decided not to allow your staff at Parks Canada to create cross-country ski trails in the parks. A decision was made that park employees would not be engaged in providing that access to people. How does that fit in with some of the philosophy that you just recited to me in your opening statement?

[Alan Latourelle]

We are investing our operating budget on the period of highest use to make sure that Canadians can come and experience the exceptional beauty of our places and the history of our nation. What we've seen in the last few years is in fact an increase in visitation that is quite substantial. Last year it was 3%, which is substantial in the tourism industry.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

So the people who are working in the summer, of course, it's the high season, but why is this a problem for the winter?

[Alan Latourelle]

We have to look at putting our money and investment into when we get the most visitors, to better serve them and not affect the service, so that's what we have done successfully.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

So you're not reviewing that choice at any time to see what it's done to the situation in the parks? The parks are still open in the winter, aren't they?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Mr. Bevington, unfortunately, your time is up.

The floor now goes to Mr. Toet.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you for joining us today.

It's always helpful to get a good handle on some of these estimates and some of the changes in the estimates. One of the key things we need to understand is that we're looking at supplements here. We're not looking at full estimates for a full year. We're looking at adjustments that have been made over the course of the year, and these are additional moneys being spent on some great environmental initiatives that are being brought forward.

One of the things that was touched on, Mr. Martin, in your opening statement was regarding a national conservation plan. It's something that I know many members of this committee spent a lot of time on over the course of a couple of years. I think I can speak for any members who were on the committee during that time. We were quite pleased to actually see the cohesiveness of the committee in going through that process, but also the government's adoption of the vast majority of what we brought forward in that.

I am wondering if you could expand a little bit on the $25.6 million that is in these supplementary estimates for the initiation of this $252 million over five years project. Could you give us a sense of where that initial funding will be going to, and the beginning of the rollout of this process?

[Michael Martin]

Thank you for the question.

We are working to rapidly implement the plan, including by moving forward quickly with the new grants and contributions resources that we have and that we're seeking to secure. There are a number of areas where we are acting.

First of all, as you know, we are renewing the natural areas conservation program, which is administered by Nature Conservancy Canada. This supports conservation of vulnerable habitats in southern Canada. To date we have secured more than 4,000 square kilometres of ecologically sensitive private lands under that program.

We are undertaking work to fully account for Canada's conservation lands. This is to build a more effective national conservation inventory to capture private lands and to give recognition to the contribution that land owners and private conservation organizations make.

We have established and are rolling out the new national wetland conservation fund, which will support projects for wetland restoration and enhancement across the country. We are, of course, enhancing our existing programs for voluntary actions to restore and conserve species and their habitats through the habitat stewardship program and the aboriginal fund for species at risk, as well as the stewardship of species at risk on agricultural lands.

Finally, we are moving forward on the theme of connecting urban Canadians to nature. We recently announced the 10 national wildlife areas, 10 of our 54, where we will invest to increase public access.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

That's great. I'm very happy to hear that wetlands restoration is one of the initial items we're starting out with. It's something we heard a lot about in committee when we were going through the national conservation plan. We heard about the need for that, and on so many fronts, even outside of the national conservation plan study, and about the great benefits that are going to be brought forward with this.

Also, the connection to nature was a large component, especially our urban.... I'm wondering if the focus there is going to be largely urban, or is that for the initial rollout of the connection? That's one of the things that I think also came through in our study very clearly: the need for that for urban and new residents, new citizens.

[Michael Martin]

The 10 national wildlife areas that have been selected are all in proximity to major urban areas. Some are within 100 kilometres and some are much closer.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

I want to turn now to the federal contaminated sites. Again, in the supplementaries here we have some additions to that, but I do know that this is actually a very large plan. It's a 15-year plan. I'm wondering if we can have a bit of an explanation as to where we are on the plan, what we've spent to date, how many sites we've cleaned up, and where our focus is for the next little while.

[Michael Martin]

As of March 2014, $2.1 billion has been spent on remediation at 1,530 sites and on assessment at 10,272 sites. That is for the federal government as a whole. The government has committed a total of $4.23 billion to clean up federal contaminated sites.

[Lawrence Toet, Conservative, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

It's a very substantial project.

Mr. Hallman, in your opening statement you talked about CEAA, its implementation, and some of the changes. In the opening remarks, you had some material on some of the new inputs, some of the early new inputs. I was hoping that you would be able to go through that a bit. You kind of skipped over it, but I think there are some very important points that I think are good to have on the record as to these early implementations and the ability for Canadian citizens to interact at a very early stage. You also touched a bit on how well these reviews are brought forward. I was hoping that you could expand on that a bit.

[Ron Hallman]

Thank you.

Some of the new public engagement steps that arise with the new act include, first and foremost, a 45-day period wherein the agency reviews a proponent's project description to determine whether an EA is in fact required or not. Within this step, there's a public web posting of the project description and a 20-day public comment period. This provides an early opportunity for Canadians to learn about the proposed projects in their communities and regions, and that in fact is an opportunity that did not exist under the former act.

Regional media in particular are picking up on the public notices that are posted to the registry from this phase of the EA, helping to ensure that Canadians are aware of proposed projects and of opportunities to participate in the review process. We're finding that the project descriptions, which are usually a summary of about 50 pages, are at a level of detail that is well suited to promoting public understanding and input.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Thank you very much, Mr. Hallman and Mr. Toet.

I will now give the floor to Mr. McKay.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Merci, Chair.

The environment commissioner was pretty critical of funding programs for species at risk. He said, “Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Parks Canada have not met their legal requirements for establishing recovery strategies, action plans, and management plans under the Species at Risk Act.” He went on in some considerable detail and said, “Of these, 84 percent were overdue by more than three years as of 31 March 2013.”

Apparently, the department agrees with the findings of the commissioner.

What money in your supplementaries here, if any, is going to address the concerns of the environment commissioner?

[Michael Martin]

Thank you for the question.

It is correct that Environment Canada in particular is behind in completing the recovery strategies. As you know, when the act entered into force, we began with a bit of a backlog and we've been working since then to catch up. We are making progress in that regard, but we still have about 163 that remain to be posted for recovery strategies.

We have ongoing funding that supports the work to develop those recovery strategies. Where this funding is important is in actually responding to the issues that recovery strategies raise in identifying critical habitat, in working to restore that habitat, and also in building partnerships with landowners and others to help not only to address species at risk but significantly to prevent species that may be threatened from further deterioration.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I'm still not clear that I got an answer to that question.

Out of this $25 million, what, if anything, would be there? Is it 10%? Is it 5%? You speak about species at risk and yet it's not clear that any of this money is actually going to be addressed to that issue.

[Michael Martin]

No. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. The bulk of these funds are for the grants and contributions programs. Those grants and contribution programs, delivered through such vehicles as the habitat stewardship program, are specifically targeted to support action on species at risk.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Okay. So there's kind of an indirect...give the grant, and that's to address that particular issue.

[Michael Martin]

I think it's a very important tool. At the end of the day, partnerships on stewardship are critically important. All the evidence shows that partnerships with landowners, with those who are on the land, who use the land, are critically important. And, of course, these partnerships also extend to a wide variety of groups, including non-government groups who are active in restoration activities.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I understand the process is that COSEWIC makes an identification of species at risk and various gradations, and then it goes to the minister. Then after that the minister is supposed to put it in front of the cabinet.

How many presentations has the minister made to cabinet about species at risk in the last year or so?

[Michael Martin]

I can't comment on what the minister has presented to cabinet, but as you know, under the act in cases where a Governor in Council decision is required, the minister would, by necessity, need to make a presentation.