Evidence of meeting #63 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was parks.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
François Pilon NDP Laval—Les Îles, QC
My second question is probably for Mr. Hamilton.
Mr. Kent said that 10% of the territory was already protected. We know that the objective is to protect 17% of the territory. What are your projects to meet that objective?
9:55 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
I apologize, but I'm having some trouble with the earphone.
Could you repeat your question?
9:55 a.m.
NDP
François Pilon NDP Laval—Les Îles, QC
Minister Kent said that at this time, 10% of the territory is protected. We know that the objective is 17%. How do you intend to meet that objective? Have any programs been put in place or is there nothing yet?
9:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada
Parks Canada plays an important role in connection with the new protected areas. We are currently working in several national parks. The Manitoba Lowlands National Park and the Bathurst Island National Park are two examples. We are currently working in approximately seven national parks, and there could be dividends in the years to come.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
François Pilon NDP Laval—Les Îles, QC
I agree entirely with my colleague Ms. Quach, who said earlier that Parks Canada had found savings of $19.7 million. Could you please specify how these savings were achieved? I would like you to explain where the cuts were made, how the decisions were made, and to outline the reasoning behind the choices.
9:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada
First, it is important to note that we are going to invest close to $600 million again this year for Canadians. So that is an important investment for Parks Canada.
Secondly, with regard to the $600 million, we are placing the emphasis mostly on those periods where there are the most visitors. So we have made some important changes to our operations, but are investing in the period when people come to visit the parks in order to ensure that our services will remain quality services. We have also reviewed all of the internal Parks Canada structure, and we consolidated several of our professional, technical and operational policy development services.
Those are the two broad strategies we used to respect our budget.
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
Mr. Pilon, your time is up, but you used a minute of your time for the repeat so I'll give you another minute.
9:55 a.m.
NDP
François Pilon NDP Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you.
Could you please specify the contributions to be made in support of sustainable ecosystems? The committee has been doing studies for over a year. I would like to know if contributions have been made in support of sustainable ecosystems.
9:55 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
Regarding specific programs, I will have to send you information on that because I don't have it to hand. I will send you a letter with reference to specific projects.
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much to the departmental officials for being here.
I would like to say that although the minister is not here, it is, I think, important to recognize the leadership he has had on this file. It was good to see him at the PDAC conference in Toronto this weekend, talking with the mining sector as well. It's great to see the minister being as busy as he actually is on the environment file and consulting with industry.
I would like to get into a couple of things that we've heard about today, specifically in regard to national parks. I have to admit, I'm confused. I was under the impression that our government had actually increased the actual footprint of the national parks in this country. Is that true? Could you expand on that a little bit—on if so, how much?
10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada
Yes, over the last five or six years there's been a significant expansion of our national parks system, for example, the Nahanni expansion, the Nááts’ihch’oh expansion. Those two brought Nahanni National Park watershed protection from 5,000 square kilometres to close to 35,000 square kilometres, as an example.
Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area is the largest freshwater conservation area in the world. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site is the only place globally protected from the seabed to the mountaintop.
We have, through Parks Canada, either implemented or are in the process of completing close to a 50% expansion of our parks system and marine conservation area system.
10 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
That's a 50% increase. Wow.
Earlier today Rouge Park was talked about as an urban conservation area. The plan for part of this is to be able to make it more accessible for young kids so they can actually participate in this conservation strategy that we've put together, so that they'll be more active, perhaps, in going to other parks. Is that indeed the case?
10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada
That is the case. I think we see the Rouge National Urban Park as a critical part of our strategy to engage young Canadians, new Canadians, and urban Canadians. For example, there are several universities also located very near, so we will be working and have already developed some partnerships with them to get students involved as we establish the park in terms of our operations, our science, all of our programs related to the Rouge National Urban Park.
10 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
It's my experience, from some of the national parks that I deal with in Alberta, where I'm from, that while the visitor numbers overall did see a decrease for a time, the new strategy is actually working and the numbers are rebounding. That's the case study I see in Alberta. Is that true at a more national level?
10 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada
From a total Parks Canada perspective, we embarked on a strategy about five years ago to change and put in place strategies to stop that decline. This summer was a great summer, with a 4% increase in visitation overall for Parks Canada. Also, I would like to note that our national historic sites have seen a 7% increase, which I'm quite proud of because we had seen close to a 15% reduction in visitation at those over the last decade. So we're turning the tide.
10 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
That's excellent.
How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?
10 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
I have a quick question on Lake Simcoe. This is something that I know the member of Parliament for Barrie is very interested in. It's something that he's talked a lot about to others.
Could you talk a bit about the Lake Simcoe funding, about how much it is and the strategy behind it?
10 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
Perhaps I'll ask Lawrence Hanson, who's with us at the table, to provide the details on the Lake Simcoe funding, which is again, as you say, a very important project for us.
March 5th, 2013 / 10 a.m.
Lawrence Hanson Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment
The funding for the program that was initially announced in 2007 in the budget was renewed subsequently in the 2012 budget for a level of $29 million over each of the five-year periods. By and large, there are a lot of these ecosystem initiatives.
Earlier you mentioned some of the sustainable ecosystem initiatives. Whether it be Lake Winnipeg, the Great Lakes nutrient initiative, or, for that matter, Lake Simcoe, much of it has to do with a point the minister made earlier during his remarks about nutrient loading into various water bodies, particularly but not exclusively from phosphorous from such activities as agriculture and just larger urban growth.
What the Lake Simcoe initiative has been designed to do is to create stewardship projects that can be funded to assist in remediation of water quality in Lake Simcoe, similar, in some ways at least, to some of the stewardship activities that are happening Lake Winnipeg and in the Great Lakes as well.