Environment Committee on Nov. 26th, 2014

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Mr. McKay, your time is up, unfortunately.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I have to start asking for Albrecht back.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

I will now give the floor to Mr. Woodworth for seven minutes.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Merci, and I'd like to begin, if I may, by just inquiring if Ms. Brown would like to finish off the question that she didn't quite get in earlier. If so, I'll let her speak first.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Woodworth.

If I may just finish my question about the north, I know that we had great discussion during our investigation on the Arctic report about the changing demand for jobs and training in the north. You talked a little bit about the construction and renovation of buildings at Yukon College. I wonder if you'd talk a little bit about how that's going. Are we starting to see graduates from those training courses, and are they moving into job opportunities?

[Mitch Bloom]

Thank you for the question. I'll take that in two levels. I think that, when I last spoke to that committee, we were talking about our northern adult basic education program which was, as I think I mentioned, literacy and numeracy, and that has been advancing very well across all three colleges. People are moving through the program, and I think, as we had hoped, we are seeing some transition into vocational training as well as other pursuits. So the program is achieving what we had hoped.

Today I briefly mentioned, as part of supplementary estimates (B), a bit more of a bricks-and-mortar investment which is specifically around the opportunity for training people for resource development in specifically the mining sector. We're excited. It's $5.6 million from the federal government being matched by an equal amount from the territorial Yukon government. It's demand. That's what's driving the creation of this and that's what's driving these investments. We continue to have a labour gap, a huge labour gap in filling these projects. We'd just as soon see them filled by northerners as well, hence the investments here and in some of the other territories. There are a lot of ways to go, but we are closing that gap slowly.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I'll resume then. I'd like to also go back to a question that I didn't quite finish concerning Monsieur Latourelle, and that is the issue of having led the search for the Erebus, Sir John Franklin's ship. I'd like to begin by asking you to help clarify what that had to do with Parks Canada. What part of Parks Canada's mandate would have involved your leading that search, and how important is it to Parks Canada that you were involved? Let's start with that, if I may.

[Alan Latourelle]

Mr. Chair, we are responsible for national historic sites, not only for those that we operate, but we also support the minister in the designation, so the commemoration program, and the Erebus and Terror were designated as national historic sites. They were the only two in Canada that had not been located although they had been designated by a previous minister. We've been working with the Government of Nunavut using traditional knowledge since 2008 and even before to try to locate these Franklin ships.

This year we worked with 10 partners across the federal government, with the private sector and non-profit sectors: the Arctic Research Foundation, for example, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the Government of Nunavut, several departments, the navy, and Canadian Hydrographic Service.

Regarding the search that we did this year, part of it was not only searching for the ships, but there are a lot of broad benefits to the government in terms of sea-floor mapping, because as we search, we do the mapping and we work together. The coast guard has been an extremely effective partner. It's within our mandate. We also are responsible for federal archaeology. In Parks Canada, we have underwater archaeologists. They are the individuals who have led the overall partnership. I think, in terms of what it means to us, this has been an amazing moment in the history of our nation, the pride in our nation, and getting a sense of the history of this great country.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much. I just wanted to make sure to get that on the record, because we deal often at this table with broader environmental issues and we sometimes forget that the subject of preserving historical and cultural artifacts and sites is really within our mandate as sort of supervising or overlooking Parks Canada. So I appreciate that.

I'm going to ask you a question that probably isn't fair at this point, but I will anyway. Is it too early yet to say what plans might develop for that particular site and those artifacts in terms of connecting Canadians with them? Or is that still in the formative thinking stage?

[Alan Latourelle]

At this point, we found the site. We brought back the ship bell, as you may be aware, so it's in our laboratories being restored. It may take up to 18 months. It's a bit unpredictable because it has been in the ocean for 160 years.

The objective for us is first to make sure that we learn the most from the site before we make final decisions. It's a bit like a crime scene. As our underwater archaeologists go in there, we want to make sure we don't disturb evidence that's going to give us some new knowledge of that history and what happened to the ship. Once we've completed that work, and based on our experience elsewhere but also on that of other countries in this type of situation, we're probably looking at four or five years of underwater archaeology diving and recording before a final decision can be made.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Very good.

I hope at some future point we'll be able to get some more information from you about all of that search operation and plans going forward.

Mr. Martin, I wonder if I could take a moment to go back over some information which I believe you gave us about the $4.3-billion commitment by the current government to clean up contaminated sites. At least, I think it was the current government. When was that $4.3-billion commitment made?

[Michael Martin]

Thank you for the question.

I would have to verify the timeframe that covers that. The program first began here in 2005, so since budget 2005-06 and over the 15 years of the program, it's $4.23 billion.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Since 2005-06, I think you mentioned there were some 15,000 sites in which there had been remediation. Did I get that figure correct?

[Michael Martin]

It's 1,530.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Sorry. It's 1,530. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Thank you, Mr. Woodworth. Your time is up.

We will now begin our last round of questions, starting with Ms. Freeman.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Actually, we have no more questions. I will therefore thank our witnesses and also take this opportunity to introduce two motions on your behalf.

The first one reads as follows:

That the Committee propose to the Minister of the Environment to invite Members of the Opposition to join the official delegation, from December 1 to 12, 2014, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Lima, Peru.

The second one says:

That the Committee invite the Minister of the Environment for an update on the climate change mitigation and adaptation negotiations with the provinces and the stakeholders on Canada's post-Copenhagen objectives; and that the Minister inform us of the position that Canada will take at the negotiations during the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Lima, Peru, from December 1 to 12, 2014.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Mr. Woodworth, you have the floor.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, as is our usual practice when matters regarding committee business are concerned, I move that we go in camera to discuss this.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

One moment, Mr. Woodworth, I will check with the clerk.

The clerk told me that the motions would be read only, not introduced, because they were received yesterday only.

Since it has not been 48 hours, they cannot be debated today, unless you want to continue the meeting in camera. That is not really necessary. We will debate them when it is possible to do so.

Are you okay with that?

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I understand. I'm sorry, I just assumed there was proper notice.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Thank you for your testimony, ladies and gentlemen.

Mr. Shipley, did you have something to add?

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

I just had a question. I thought we had started another round. When Madam Freeman said she was done, does that mean we're all done?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, François Choquette]

Yes. It is now 5:10 p.m. We are going to suspend the meeting for two minutes to allow the witnesses to leave the table, after which we will resume to vote on the estimates.