Environment Committee on March 7th, 2013

[Natasha Rascanin]

I would not say that all of the funds have been distributed—

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

They have been allocated.

[Natasha Rascanin]

The program was announced in 2011.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

So, in less than two years, all of the funds were allocated. I think we could say that the fund was a success. I think that there is demand for the Green Infrastructure Fund.

[Natasha Rascanin]

I'm sorry. It was in 2009, not 2011.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

That's okay. How much was allocated? Was it $1.8 billion?

[Natasha Rascanin]

It was a total of $1 billion.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Compared with $8.8 billion—

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Thank you, Mr. Choquette, I think your time is up.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Oh, that's too bad.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

We'll have to move on to Mr. Woodworth.

Thank you, but we're under a bit of a tight timeline, unless the committee instructs me otherwise. I'm at the mercy of your decision.

Ms. Rempel.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Centre-North, AB]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I think I have two colleagues on my side who are interested in asking questions. So I just put it to the opposition that perhaps if Mr. Choquette would like to continue his questioning, we could do so.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Maybe in another round we could come back to that, if the committee agrees. Let's move on first and complete this section and we'll go from there.

Mr. Woodworth.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Rascanin, Mr. Nouhi, and Mr. Makuc.

I also have many questions and I'm going to try to boil them down to those that will help me most. First of all, we heard evidence that there was a $500,000 green municipal fund, and it sounds to me like that must be the green infrastructure fund that you're talking about. Is that correct?

[Natasha Rascanin]

That fund is something that's run by the FCM, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. We do not have any involvement with that fund.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Mr. Woodworth, could you just clarify the amount? You said $500,000?

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Sorry, I meant $500 million. Thank you.

Do you not fund it?

[Mohamed Nouhi, Principal Advisor, Policy and Communications, Priority Initiatives, Environmental Initiatives, Infrastructure Canada]

Yes, we provide funding for that program, but it's mostly managed by the FCM.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I understand. I wasn't asking you about management just the funding of it. Is that different from the green infrastructure fund that you're talking about?

[Mohamed Nouhi]

Yes.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

Regarding the green infrastructure fund, you've mentioned a number of categories: waste water, solid waste, green energy, carbon transmission. Is that written down in a regulation or a policy somewhere?

[Natasha Rascanin]

Yes, it is. It's definitely in the terms and conditions that the Treasury Board approves for each program. Public information is provided on our website.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Is it a policy or a regulation?

[Natasha Rascanin]

It's a policy.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Is that policy written so that you could provide us a copy?