Evidence of meeting #4 for Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was marine.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:15 p.m.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
West Coast Environmental Law would be a new aspect to the committee and I agree there has been very little focus so far on marine conservation.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jim Eglinski Conservative Yellowhead, AB
If that's the theme we're going down, then I would like to see the Pacific Salmon Foundation brought in or on the list if we're going to move away from.... It would be very important. It ties in with West Coast Environmental Law.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Cynara is just sharing with me some of the people she had already gone through. She had already invited the Atlantic salmon group and they declined. That's not specifically this group, but there was another group that declined to come.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
I'm hearing three ideas. We have the town of Jasper, focusing on the difficulties of being a municipality within a park boundary and the unique things they're doing to add to the environmental aspect of the park.
We have Stewart Elgie, the lawyer, who pretty well knows everything about everything. He may want to come and talk about a lot.
We also have the Pacific Salmon Foundation, which might be a nice way of tackling a bit of the fish aspect that we haven't heard much from or West Coast Environmental Law.
Mr. Eglinski.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jim Eglinski Conservative Yellowhead, AB
The suggestion is to maybe keep Jasper outside of this. If we're talking fish, it's kind of not fishy there, it's a little dry country. If we were to consider them as part of our tour, it would be very beneficial, and I would be quite willing to say, let's stick with the west coast fishing segment.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
If you want, we can pause this for a minute, although I think we're pretty close. We can pause it, talk about a trip, and what we might be able to include in a trip, and that might inform us a bit more about whether there is anybody we want to add to the 17th. Do you want to do that? Do you want to move to a possible trip?
1:15 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Let's do that, and then we'll come back to this, because that might help us understand what we can tackle in another way, as you suggested.
Discussions with many of you, on the side, have been that there would be value in going and seeing those who are trying to deal with the challenges in Banff, with the numbers of visitors who are coming, and balancing that with the needs of the ecological viability of the place. That was brought forward. I thought that was interesting.
There also was a discussion on the importance of where we're moving forward in our study looking at first nations, and how we can work better with them on our protected areas and how we might consider including that into meeting our targets, and how they do things and it's different. There was a suggestion of the Haida Gwaii area. There was also a suggestion of the Great Bear Rainforest. These are two areas that are really well led by first nations. They've done things a little differently, and we might want to consider that before we actually draft our instructions.
I'll just frame the discussions I've had with people.
Then there were some of the issues to the north, in the Northwest Territories, and we had a speaker here talking about that, and how maybe we need to think differently about how we want to move forward on our parks.
Then there was a bit on the east coast, but mostly it was to the west and to the north. There was Waterton Lakes, which was Mr. Shields'...we have to go to Waterton Lakes. I've been to Waterton Lakes, and I think there's an element of interest there because it straddles the border. There's the U.S. and the things that they're doing, and there's us. So there was that aspect as well, to see the two aspects there, and what they do better than us, what we do better than them, and how it works on the landscape.
Waterton Lakes, Banff, Haida Gwaii, Great Bear Rainforest, and something to the north were all in the discussions that I had with people. I thought personally all of them had validity in our research.
Okay, I'm opening the floor.
Mr. Eglinski.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jim Eglinski Conservative Yellowhead, AB
Banff and Jasper would do the same thing. I am from the west and know the west coast very well, British Columbia, all parts of it, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories, if you're talking about the Great Bear region...I think it's the transportation to and from that's going to become a nightmare. If we're looking as a group, we're probably better off either staying to the west side of the country or going to the east side of the country. We could take in Haida quite easily. We can probably find, if we put our minds together, aboriginal groups that are doing great conservation work in British Columbia and in Alberta.
With the travel time, to try to go from Haida to Calgary or to Edmonton, or wherever place we go, and then trying to say we're going to go way up north, we're going to run out of time. The logistics are going to be very difficult. But I think if we looked at coming across, and tying in the national parks going over to British Columbia, it's doable within three, four, five days, whatever we're going to put in there. I think we could still get a good cross-section of what you want to see.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Overall, we all agree that a trip is a good thing to do with the committee. I'm getting that sense from everyone I've spoken to.
Mr. Aldag.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
I've given some thought to a possible itinerary. Aside from what Jim has said, I do see Banff and Jasper as a bit of a different piece. I think there are different perspectives from both. In my mind, the itinerary was that everybody meet in Edmonton, do Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff; if there's time, scoot down to Waterton, and then over to the west coast. It is a bit of an issue with getting into northern B.C., or north central.
I just wanted to throw out that the Pacific Rim and Gulf Islands National Parks are two other parks on the island that have very interesting first nations issues. We've heard today on the marine side that the Strait of Georgia is tied to the Gulf Islands, and the Pacific Rim has some quite interesting things. If we could make it to Gwaii Haanas as well, and take in some of the island, that would be, to me, a bonus. Logistically, it may be a bit easier to consider that Vancouver Island piece as well, or in addition to, depending on timing.
I just wanted to say Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff would be one nice chunk, and then the Gulf Islands and Pacific Rim would be another to consider.
It gives Maligne Lake and Banff-Bow Valley Study.... There are some really interesting pieces there.
May 10th, 2016 / 1:20 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I have some questions before suggestions. How long do folks want to spend and what are we trying to learn? If the first nations component of conservation is really important, then that gives you a sense. If it's those extremely popular, high-traffic places, and the challenges they face, that starts to focus. If it's both those things, that's fine, as well.
I know the logistics quite will, certainly. I was in Haida Gwaii last week and the central coast at the same time. I can run you through logistics, if you want. Haida Gwaii is surprisingly not that bad. It's an hour-and-thirty-minute flight from Vancouver, and you land anywhere you want to be.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
I was thinking we would need at least five to seven days to make it worth it.
1:20 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I think you're in that range.
To do a Jasper area thing...one or two days just to get around there. Waterton is an extra little chunk that you could consider. Then you're just looking at flying from Calgary or Edmonton to Vancouver, and then either to Vancouver Island....
The Pacific Rim is a bit tricky to get to. Sometimes you'll find weird logistics. A place that's directionally only a few hundred kilometres away is more of a hassle. It's three ferries plus a four-hour drive versus some place that can be quite far but that's one plane stop. It's the way it is on the west coast sometimes, because of the ferries and everything else.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
It's also a matter of finding the groups that have the time available to entertain us, to a certain extent, or work with us.
1:20 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I've spoken to the Haida briefly, because Minister McKenna is going up there in July and she wanted some help facilitating. They're quite keen. Depending on when the committee would want to go, Haida Gwaii in the summer is a very popular place, but it doesn't have the range of hotels you're going to get in Nanaimo or Kelowna, so bringing a crew in.... Also, the Haida would want to host you properly. We'd just need some lead time. You'd eat well.
1:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Do we all agree on the two aspects we're trying to understand?
One is that balance between visitors.... We heard that in the witness statements. You have that interest in the mandate letters to increase people coming to the parks, and then the balance with the ecological integrity of the parks. There's that, and how that's being met in certain places.
I thought the first nations discussions we had were very enlightening. Obviously, there's a lot more to learn that we need to incorporate as we move forward on this.
Do we all agree that those two would be our goals?
1:25 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Then, under that purview, are we including the north? That was going to be my last point...the logistics to then head to an Iqaluit type of thing.
1:25 p.m.
Liberal
1:25 p.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Interestingly again, with some of our most northern places the easiest way to get there is from Ottawa, not from the west coast. Your two-and-a-half or three-hour flight from here, plus a little jumper, gets you somewhere very interesting. In doing Alberta, B.C., the west coast, and then trying to incorporate a northern piece, the only place we'd go north would be Yukon.... When you get into the territories and into Iqaluit it's logistically very interesting. I suppose you could try.