Environment Committee on March 22nd, 2007

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

That's not the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Ask about supplementary estimates.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Is it what the committee passed? Is the topic of this meeting what this committee agreed it would be, what we voted on, what we twice passed, or is it not? That's the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

It's about the supplementary estimates, if that's what you wanted to ask.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

No, that's not my—You keep saying that we can ask about whatever we want. And that really means, Mr. Chairman, that the minister can talk about whatever he wants. We want him here to talk about his performance and the performance and spending of his department over the past year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Why don't you make that a motion?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Why don't I make it a motion, Mr. Chairman? We've done it twice before. Why should I need to?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

It will pass.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I don't have to make it a motion, Mr. Chairman; we've passed the motion twice already.

I just need you to confirm that the rest of this meeting will be held on supplementary estimates, ending March 31 of this year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

The rest of this meeting will be held on item two, and that's exactly what I started out saying.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

No, you didn't, but thank you very much for your clarity now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

I want clarity from you, Mr. Chair. Will I be able to ask any question that I would like regarding the environment?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

You can ask about migrating turtles in the Galapagos Islands, if you want to.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

If you read item two, Mr. McGuinty's motion, that's what we'll be dealing with.

Mr. Baird, I apologize for taking your time. If you could be brief, make your presentation, then we'll get right to members' questions.

Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I'm sorry, I just heard two rulings from you, sir.

First you said to my colleague Mr. Regan that we would circumscribe this balance of time and the minister would hold his remarks to what he was convened here to speak about. And then in response to Mr. Warawa, you told him he could ask any question on any fishing expedition he wants to talk about.

Did I get this wrong?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. McGuinty, I can't vet the questions of members.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I understand. But will this next hour and 40 minutes actually deal with—?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

It will be on item two.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

It'll deal with the motion. Thank you very much, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Baird, Minister.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

I can feel the love in this room.

[Some hon members]

Oh, oh!

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I'm very pleased to be here today. This is my sixth year as a minister, and every other appearance I've had on the estimates tends to be a two-hour question period on any issue that's of interest to members of the committee, whether it's supplementary estimates (B), whether it's the main estimates for next year—which obviously in short order the government will be presenting—or the reports on plans and priorities, which will be coming out shortly. The two principal vehicles with respect to accountability for how funds are spent are the DPR, which comes out in the fall—and that deals with the previous year's expenditures—and the public accounts, which will be tabled in the fall. And those, as well, follow up the main estimates from the previous year on how spending was conducted.

I'm pleased to be here so soon after the tabling of one of the most environmentally friendly budgets Canada has yet seen, a budget that responds to the number one concern of Canadians, which is cleaning up and protecting our environment.

This week, with $4.5 billion in new environmental funding, Canada's new government has injected a substantial amount of new money to support our environment. We put forward a substantial amount of money to fight climate change, reduce smog, and attack air pollution. As well, we're investing in a clean water strategy and hiring more enforcement officers to ensure that our laws for environmental protection are enforced and that the health of Canadians is protected. And—this is what brings me here today—as Minister of the Environment, my comments will focus on a wide variety of issues in the portfolio, which includes Environment Canada, the Parks Canada Agency, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

I look forward to responding to your questions on these issues. I also understand that I'm appearing under Standing Order 108(2), which allows members to ask wide-ranging questions, and I look forward to those questions.

Joining me here at the table today are Ian Shugart, the associate deputy minister, and Basia Ruta, the assistant deputy minister, of Environment Canada. We also have with us here today folks from the department who may come forward and who are appropriate to answer questions requiring a more detailed or thorough response. As well, we have representatives from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and Parks Canada.

Canada's new government is serious about our environment and particularly about the issue of climate change. In her 2006 report, the former environment commissioner said, and I quote: “Since 1997, the government has announced over $6 billion in funding for initiatives on climate change. However, it does not yet have an effective government-wide system to track expenditures, performance, and results on its climate change programs.” She contrasted that with what was actually spent, saying, and I quote, “federal spending on climate change totalled $1.35 billion.”

Our plan does not include announcing $6 billion in environmental spending and only following through with $1.6 billion. Instead, Canada's new government has invested more than $3 billion on clean air and climate change initiatives in 2006-07.

In the last two and a half months since the Prime Minister asked me to take on this file, Canada's new government has made great headway in addressing some of our country's most pressing environmental concerns. Our actions have been driven by a focus on combating the devastating effects of climate change, cleaning the air that Canadians breathe, putting in place a better management regime for addressing chemicals, and delivering regulations that reduce the risks from pollution, while ensuring that our economy continues to grow.

As part of this government's environmental agenda, we have proposed legislation and gone ahead with several initiatives to take real action on climate change—the Clean Air Act, our chemicals management plan, the ecoEnergy, ecoTransport, and ecoTrust initiatives. These measures reflect the government's approach in addressing the environmental issues that Canadians and the global community are faced with today.

For example, we recently introduced the Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change, which includes more than $1.5 billion in new national funding. This funding will give the provinces and territories the support they need to initiate or launch new programs to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and smog and air pollution.

To date, we've announced projects in six provinces, two territories, and committed almost $1.4 billion towards the development of new technologies, energy efficiency, and other projects that will give us real results in reducing both greenhouse gases and smog pollutants. I'm looking forward to continuing work with the other provinces—Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, the Yukon and Saskatchewan—in the coming hours, days, and weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, our government believes in actions that produce results. Actions we have recently undertaken and confirmed in this week's budget include an investment of $2 billion in ecoEnergy initiatives that will help Canadians use energy more efficiently, boost renewable energy supplies, and develop cleaner energy technologies.

The $107 million being spent on an ecoTransport strategy includes a series of initiatives designed to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation by making our transportation system more economical and more environmental.

Finally, $1.3 billion will support public transit infrastructure with our municipal partners.

For the first time in Canadian history, this government has introduced legislation that will enable us to regulate indoor air pollutants and outdoor air quality and greenhouse gases, establish national air quality objectives, and set standards for renewable fuel content and vehicle fuel consumption. This is a very important step for the health of Canadians. It's important because it will provide our government with the regulatory authority to reduce greenhouse gases, smog, and air pollution, and it will let us enforce it with the strict targets that are necessary for Canadians today and in future generations.

Members will recall that we committed last year to invest $300 million in the chemicals management plan, a plan that will protect Canadians against harmful chemicals in our environment and will prevent their reintroduction.

We're also taking action to preserve our national heritage. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister announced $225 million to protect half a million acres of ecologically sensitive lands in southern Canada.

As well, we've made significant contributions to help preserve and restore areas such as Stanley Park in Vancouver; the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, in the great riding of the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley; the Sydney Tar Ponds in Nova Scotia; and Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, the hometown of the member for Halifax West.

Among many initiatives of Parks Canada, most recently we took significant steps to protect a major national historic site in the north, on the coast of the Great Bear Lake, and we announced investments to restore the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada on Vancouver Island.

These initiatives, combined with tax incentives to landowners who donate ecologically sensitive land through the ecological gifts program, clearly demonstrate that our plan for the environment is all-encompassing.

The list I have cited is extensive. What we have achieved to date will bring Canadians significant environmental and health benefits, but we realize that more can be done and more must be done.

I've recently returned from a meeting of G8 environment ministers, where I participated in extensive discussions on both biodiversity and climate change with environment ministers not only from the Group of Eight but also from emerging industrialized economies such as Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa. When I spoke to my colleagues, I carried a message. In order to ensure global success in the protection of our planet for future generations, our actions must be guided by both environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.

It's why Canada is taking significant action in a variety of areas to protect our environment and to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. It is why our government is looking at technology such as carbon capture and storage and investing in energy efficiency, in order to find real solutions to climate change that will benefit both our environment and our economy.

It's critical that the world not wait until Kyoto ends in the year 2012 to start talking about a new deal, a deal where all countries are at the table addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Canada is not waiting until 2012. We are taking some of the most aggressive actions in the G8 to address climate change over the next five years.

Obviously we have accomplished a lot in only a few months. There is plenty more to do, and I can assure you that the funding set out in our financial documents will be critical to our ability to meet objectives.

Our ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change is not here in the main estimates, but the ecoTrust will be voted on in the budget.

Secondly, if you compare Environment Canada's 2007-08 estimates to the previous estimates, it might seem that Environment Canada's climate change programs have been eliminated. Mr. Chair, this is not the case. Climate change programs appeared under their own strategic outcome in 2006-07. In our current 2007-08 estimates, climate change programs have been integrated with the work of other areas of the department.

Because air pollutants and greenhouse gases share many common sources, the government is taking an integrated approach to reduce these types of emissions. As a result, the majority of Environment Canada's climate change work is now part of the department's broader efforts to protect Canadians and the environment from the effects of pollution and waste.

I want to emphasize to this committee that Canada's new government will spend more money addressing the concerns of Canadians about both air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in 2007-08 than the last government did in any of their previous budgets.

The last significant change in the estimates I'd like to mention is the apparent $55 million decrease in funding for the department's programs that deal with toxic substances. Though it appears the department receives significantly less funding for programs to address toxic substances in 2007-08, again Mr. Chair, this is not true. In 2006-07, funding for Environment Canada's air pollution was combined with funding to address toxic substances. In 2007-08, funding for Environment Canada's air pollution program was aligned with funding for climate change, again reflecting our integrated approach. The shift to align air pollution money with climate change money is why it seems that the department receives less funding to address toxic substances. In fact, together, the funding to address toxic substances and funding for air pollution programs is just under $0.25 billion a year, which works out to an increase of about $51.3 million from last year.

In the interest of time, I'll skip over the comments I was to make on the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and Parks Canada. But I would underline that they form critically important parts of my mandate as Minister of the Environment.

As Minister of the Environment, I'm guided by one fundamental principle: protecting and improving our natural environment. These estimates will help the Department of the Environment and its portfolio agencies do their part to make our country and our world greener. Together with new spending in the budget, we will promote real action on issues that matter most to Canadians: environmentally healthy and sustainable communities, energy efficiency, and continuing sustainable economic growth.

Mr. Chair, I hope this summary of Environment Canada's accomplishments and clarification of some financial issues provides the committee with the insight they have been seeking in areas of concern to the Department of the Environment.

I'd be happy to respond to questions that you or the rest of the committee may have.

Thank you.