Evidence of meeting #52 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was plan.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
It's very dispersed. I'll do some investigation to find this out, but I don't believe there's any single organization you can point to and say that they are the bulk of legal action. I'll confirm that, but I'm almost certain that is the case.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
That would be nice to know.
I'll just turn the rest of my time over to Mr. Sopuck.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
I have just a quick follow-up question, Mr. Keenan, on the impact of energy pricing on rural and low-income Canadians.
I agree with you that if energy efficiency improves, then energy costs should go down; however, there are always policy proposals on the table, some of which would have the impact of increasing the cost of energy, the price of energy. Can we say unequivocally if energy prices go up that low-income Canadians and rural Canadians would be the hardest hit?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
I think the refuge of economists is that they're almost never unequivocal, because it depends, again, on the details. I think if energy prices go up, it has a significant impact on industry. It depends a little on whether it's natural gas or oil, etc., because we've seen some divergence in those prices, so I think there's a direct and an indirect impact.
For example, for people who use energy more for transportation--rural communities--and for people for whom energy is a larger share of their total household budget--lower-income communities--there is a bigger effect there. If you're in a rural community, I think it depends on whether you're in agriculture or some other activity. If you're in agriculture, some farms are very heavy fuel users, so that....
So I think you can see a pattern that.... I would say it's generally true, but it depends on the details of it. If it's the result of a policy, it depends upon the other attributes of the policy. For example, something that made energy more efficient but also generated energy efficiency could have an offset.
So as a general.... I think the answer is yes. The details depend on the nature of the price increase and exactly who it's hitting.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
Mr. Boothe, you have committed to doing some homework for committee and providing some information to the clerk on various issues. We're looking forward to receiving that information.
We've dealt with supplementaries (C), so I'm going to call the votes.
ENVIRONMENT Parks Canada Agency Vote 25c--Program expenditures..........$1
(Vote 25c agreed to)
Parks Canada Agency Vote 30c--Payments to..........$1
(Vote 30c agreed to)
Shall the chair report votes 25c and 30c under Environment to the House?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I will do that. Thank you.
With that, I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today: Elaine Feldman, Alan Latourelle, Paul Boothe, Michael Keenan, and Basia Ruta.
Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Thank you, Mr. Sopuck.
We're out of here.