Evidence of meeting #6 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was budget.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
Mr. Chair, we do have some information available.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
Sorry, Mr. Chair. Going by this, the advertising budget of the Department of National Defence in 2007-08 seems to be over $12 million. For Human Resources and Social Development Canada, it looks to be a little bit over $12 million as well. For Health Canada, it's $7 million. Those are some of the comparisons that I have here.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
I guess it would be interesting to know other comparisons on that, but at least in some of those that you cite there, it does seem not unreasonable and well less than some of the other ones. So it's pretty fair, I would think.
Is Environment Canada's advertising budget different from previous years? Can you do a comparison to last year and previous years?
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
In 2006-07, it was $2,350,000. I don't have 2005-06, for some reason, but in 2004-05, it was $8.8 million.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
So it fluctuates. It goes up and down a little bit. Certainly $8 million is back to a figure you had a couple of years ago as well. We hope the dollar is getting us more these days.
I appreciate your information to us with respect to the advertising, and certainly I would commend you with respect to retrofits on houses and the rebate for vehicles, and so on. My constituents want to know about that kind of stuff. You do need to get that information out to them. I commend you and say that takes the stress off my office when you guys are doing your job in getting that good information out to consumers and my constituents as well.
Conservative
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Thank you.
I think Mr. Vellacott is referring to a point I raised in the spring about advertising, which wasn't so much about the amount; it was that the advertising coming out at that particular time seemed to have a political slant to it. In fact, I think the government is blurring the lines between government and political advertising.
That was confirmed when I saw, as the backdrop for a slide that Minister Baird showed last week, a clip or photo from a Conservative attack ad. I think that's highly unprofessional. I think you should balk when that is requested of you as departmental officials.
I'd like to discuss the Canada Water Act. Under section 38 of the Canada Water Act, the Minister of the Environment, I believe, is required to prepare an annual report on the operations undertaken by the government with respect to the management of water resources in Canada. Is that correct?
Michael Martin Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
Yes, that is correct.
December 4th, 2007 / 4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Have you reported since the new government has come into power?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
No, we have not.
Liberal
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
We are late with our reporting, sir.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
You'd be in violation of the act. And I make that point after listening to the minister brag about his interest in water issues. We still don't have a document called a “national water strategy” do we?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
No.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
The national water strategy, sir, was a part of Budget 2007. The details of it were described in the budget. There has been a series of announcements since that time for specific projects under the strategy.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
I'm sorry. My name is Michael Martin. I'm the Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy at Environment Canada.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
The man who wrote the 1987 water strategy said, as of two weeks ago, that your government's approach to a national water strategy, and I quote, “is neither national nor strategic”.
We still don't have regulations under CEPA to regulate phosphates in dishwashing detergents. Is that correct?
John Carey Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Science and Technology Branch, Department of the Environment
My name is John Carey. I'm acting assistant deputy minister for science and technology.
We have regulations under CEPA for laundry detergent but not for automatic dishwashing detergent.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
The issue of blue-green algae has been in the news for months and months and months. This committee even had hearings on the subject. We even passed a motion, which we sent to the House of Commons. The government can change the regulations on the Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 15 days to allow Canadians to import cars from the United States and take advantage of the lower exchange rate, which I agree with--I wrote to the minister to ask him to make those changes--so why can't the Minister of the Environment make a small change to CEPA when the Canadian Specialty Products Association is asking for a regulation to bring the level of phosphates in dishwasher detergent down to .5%? What's taking so long?
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment
We have the authority to act, but it's a question of priorities. The ministry outlined a number of priorities we're working on, and phosphate from dishwashing liquid detergent is apparently 1% of the problem. Our priority is the municipal waste water regulations, which are a more significant way of controlling the problem.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
When it comes to municipal waste water, we hear that the amount of money that's being committed to this is not anywhere near what the municipalities feel should be allocated. Is it true that the government is thinking of bringing the private sector in as an investor in municipal waste water?
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
I'm afraid you would have to speak to the--
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
That's fine. I take your point. I don't have much time so I have to rush through these questions.
It is reported that the old Expo site in Montreal is leaking PCBs into the St. Lawrence and that the Commission for Environmental Cooperation is sitting on a report. Do you know, or do you suspect, that this allegation is true, that PCBs are seeping into the St. Lawrence? And if the CEC won't release the report, are you taking any steps to verify whether this claim is true or not?
