Evidence of meeting #83 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 environment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
You might have taken some heat, but I think there's a lot of stuff that we can be proud of. I'm going to start with parks.
My colleagues here have asked about what we've done to satisfy the Aichi targets to protect land. Since we've come to office, by how much have we increased Canada's protected lands?
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Thank you, that's a good question. You're quite right. I've certainly learned how quickly scar tissue accumulates.
Parks Canada is a world leader. In my previous life as a junior minister in Foreign Affairs, I visited countries in the Americas and abroad in Africa and Asia, and met many ministers, and certainly, I visited some naturally protected spaces. Parks Canada is cited as the source of best practices in creating national parks and dealing with species at risk with all of the issues that occur under CITES. Since 2006, our government has increased—and again to the question regarding the Aichi targets—by 50% the protected spaces across Canada.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
What does that mean in terms of comparing it to the size of another country, say?
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Well, you could put the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Belgium into that area. There was a criticism not long ago comparing the amount of protected space in New Zealand to the amount of protected space in Canada. It's apples and oranges, the percentage of protected space. We are at about 10% of Canada's total land and sea area protected. We are, as I said, working on achieving Aichi targets for both our oceans and for land. I think Canadians can well be proud of the work. As minister, I take the credit and the blame on issues. Parks Canada's accomplishments really speak for themselves.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
I agree. Actually, it's my understanding that since we've come to office we've protected a land mass the size of Norway in new....
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
I think Parks Canada is to be commended for that.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
I think that's incredible progress in protecting parks areas in Canada.
We often get derided, too, for increases in parks fees and access to parks, but I always like to look at comparative activities. I think for less than the cost of a movie in an average Canadian city, somebody can access a national park for a day. Is that correct?
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Absolutely.
As you know, after freezing user fees for some time in the parks and our historic canals, we addressed issues that the Auditor General pointed out in past years to ensure that reasonable access is there for these parks. But when you look at the expenses that Canadians make for children's hockey, for health clubs, for other recreational activities, including movies, the changes to the fees across the national parks are comparable. They are reasonable. We're trying to find a balance.
User fees will never support our national parks system—they certainly won't support our entire historic canal system—but we're trying to find a reasonable balance. In the parks, user fees account for about 35% of costs. On our historic canals, as you know, user fees paid by boaters account for barely 10% of the costs. The current exercise we're going through is controversial. It's a sensitive one, but in the national capital area, for example, we have a wonderful historic canal here.
For those boaters who complain about reasonable, modest increases in moorage or dockage, for example, my answer is that a 36-foot cabin cruiser that wishes to tie up for a day opposite the Chateau Laurier should pay at least the same moorage fee as a 36-foot Winnebago at a campground in one of our great national parks.
Conservative
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Centre-North, AB
But everybody else got seven or eight minutes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht
I appreciate your perspective, even though it's wrong.
We will go to Mr. Choquette for the last question. You have five minutes, please.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have some very simple and direct questions to ask. And so I would like answers in the same vein.
How many staff have been let go in the last year, and how many are you planning on letting go this year? If you can't answer me today, you can give us the numbers later.
Conservative
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
We'll give you those numbers. There are three separate sets of numbers.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you very much.
How many staff have been hired in the communication department in the last three years? You can give me the same answer.