Environment Committee on Nov. 5th, 2012

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

These kinds of maps can still be developed, and are still being developed—this is 2012—based on our current monitoring.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Dr. Dodds, please, I understand this. I taught this at the university too.

I'm asking, will any of them be shut down, please?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Will any of the...?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Ozone-sonde stations be shut down. And I've asked this repeatedly.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

We may shut down some. We will let everybody know what decision will be made.

What we're looking at is what contributes best to overall ozone monitoring in the most efficient, effective manner.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay, so we still have no answer since last December on this. Is that correct?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

No, as I said in my comments, our scientists who know ozone are studying this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Time has expired. Thank you.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

There was a request for answers to be tabled, and that would be totally voluntary, if you would like. It's up to you.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

We'd be happy to provide the answers, absolutely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Thank you.

Now we will start the five-minute round, and we'll begin with Ms. Leslie.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I just have one quick question, and then I'm going to pass it over to my colleague Madame Quach.

Dr. Dodds, in my last round of questioning you said you had received no direct criticisms about what it is that's happening here with ozone. I just did a quick scan, because I know I've read criticisms from the international community, and found on the public record an article by Mark Weber from Germany's University of Bremen saying that the person assigned to manage the data isn't sufficiently qualified for doing the job and they need a stronger scientific background. I saw that Christos Zerefos, from Greece, who presides over an international committee of ozone researchers, warned that Canada is losing its leadership with this decision. I also found Gord McBean, former ADM of Environment Canada and president-elect of the International Council for Science, warning that this was a bad decision.

So you're saying that you've not received any criticism of this decision.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

I have not received any criticism. People from the Wegener institute, from the World Meteorological Organization, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the States, who have phoned and asked what the situation is and who have had answers to their questions, have been very satisfied with the answers to their questions, because they understand our monitoring continues, we continue to do research, and we're doing it to international standards.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

So these folks, these scientists, who are commenting publicly—have you followed up with them to try to get them the information that you think they need?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Anybody who writes in would get an answer. I don't know whether any of those individuals have actually tried to verify with Environment Canada, with me, with Dr. Lin, what the situation is. We have talked to our stakeholders, so folks who are involved in the World Meteorological Organization's international global oversight of ozone all know. I can't speak for research scientists, because there are literally thousands of scientific institutes in universities around the world who may or may not have an ozone research scientist.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Okay.

Thanks very much.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you very much for joining us today.

I would like to know what the repercussions might be of the National Research Council's changed mandate in terms of ozone monitoring. We know that that could result in a decrease in the number of trainees working at the NRC.

Furthermore, approximately 12,000 articles are written by scientists every year. Will this change result in fewer articles being published?

Ms. Dodds, you said earlier that this could result in the closing of some stations. What is the scope of the impact? How many stations are we talking about? How many fewer researchers will there be?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Let me start with your question about changes to the National Research Council's mandate.

I don't know the specifics about the work of the National Research Council. To the best of my understanding, they have not been partners in ozone monitoring. It's not an area that NRC is known for. The National Research Council is a very important research organization in Canada, but it is not a granting council, nor does it provide scholarships to doctoral or post-doctoral students outside of the National Research Council.

In terms of numbers of publications that can be used as a way of monitoring output, the science and technology branch publishes about 700 scientific publications per year, and that's remained constant over the last number of years, roughly speaking.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Will all of the changes you referred to earlier as well as those in 2011 result in fewer scientific publications, student trainees, stations and scientists whose work is concentrated on the ozone?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Well, in terms of resources, I work with what I have. The budget for the department is allocated by the government.

Working with my directors general, my job is to make sure that Environment Canada has the science and the research that it needs.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I want to know what the repercussions will be and what will be cutback in the area of ozone research.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

We don't anticipate any cuts, going forward.

The department was impacted in the budget of this year, as were all departments. Again, we took a very high degree of care to make sure we maintained all the monitoring and the scientific capacity that is needed, and we continue to look to find as many efficiencies as we can.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Are you saying that scientists, researchers and students will not be subject to cutbacks?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

We don't anticipate any more—