Evidence of meeting #61 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was environmental.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Robert McLean  Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment
Tovah Barocas  Director, Development, Earth Rangers
Mike Puddister  Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation
Terri LeRoux  Executive Director, Credit Valley Conservation Foundation

8:45 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Members, I'll call our meeting to order, please. This is meeting number 61 of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are continuing our study of the role of the private sector in Canada in showing leadership by partnering with not-for-profit organizations to undertake local environmental initiatives.

Appearing today in person we have Mr. Robert McLean, executive director, Canadian Wildlife Service, environmental stewardship branch. Welcome, Mr. McLean. From the Earth Rangers, we welcome Ms. Tovah Barocas, director of development. Appearing by video conference from Mississauga, Ontario, we have from the Credit Valley Conservation Foundation Mrs. Terri LeRoux, executive director, and Mike Puddister, director of watershed transformation.

We'll proceed with 10-minute opening statements, first from Mr. McLean and then from Ms. Barocas.

Mr. McLean, you have 10 minutes.

8:45 a.m.

Robert McLean Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment

Thank you.

Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you again this morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about private sector partnerships with not-for-profit organizations to undertake local environmental initiatives. My comments today will focus on wildlife and habitat conservation and stewardship, as an issue that falls under the mandate of Environment Canada.

Conserving biodiversity is a collaborative effort and a responsibility that is shared among all Canadians—from all levels of government and industry to not-for-profit organizations, private landowners, and individual citizens. We must all be active partners.

Federal and provincial protected areas—like national and provincial parks and national wildlife areas—as well as private conservation lands, are all essential for long-term conservation of biodiversity. But conservation also depends on actions within the broader landscape where a significant portion of all natural areas are found. Careful stewardship of the broader landscape is key, and therefore private sector-not-for profit partnerships can play an important role.

Many people have an influence on these working landscapes. Collaborative conservation planning at the landscape level and complementary coordinated action help ensure the best possible outcomes. Stakeholders will each bring different influences and different contributions to the table. The biggest successes are often rooted in strong partnerships. We achieve more together than we can apart.

The impact and reach of the private sector in these efforts cannot be underestimated. There are many ways in which Canada's private sector is engaging with not-for-profit organizations to undertake conservation and stewardship initiatives that have a real impact in communities across the country. These efforts complement the role of governments and other partners—another spoke in the wheel of Canada's conservation and stewardship movement. These partnerships provide mutual benefits that allow initiatives to proceed and succeed. Resources, expertise, and information can be shared and leveraged to better manage land and resources for conservation outcomes. For example, companies can find data and information from on-the-ground conservation organizations about where best to work and what kinds of activities are needed on the landscape, including best management practices. These can allow them to focus their conservation and stewardship efforts where and how they are most needed. Non-profit organizations may get the financial resources they need to advance a particular project.

For the private sector, these efforts not only contribute to a company's public image as a good corporate citizen but are also good for the bottom line. This is evident in particular for natural resource companies, where a sustainably managed resource helps to ensure the long-term viability of the business. It applies across all industry sectors. Examples from these joint private sector and non-government organization efforts take many different forms, such as direct funding for NGO-led environmental initiatives, working together to move towards common environmental objectives, and cooperating in on-the-ground projects.

Indeed, under such federal funding programs as the habitat stewardship program, the aboriginal fund for species at risk, and the national wetland conservation fund, there are several examples of private sector and NGO partnerships for environmental initiatives.

Under the habitat stewardship program, in 2014-15 the Fraser Valley Conservancy received almost $10,000 of in-kind support from Lafarge for a project on the recovery of the western painted turtle and associated species at risk in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, to address threats of habitat loss and degradation from residential and commercial developments, road mortality, disease transmission from invasive species, human disturbance, low reproductive success, and wetland loss and degradation.

For the aboriginal fund for species at risk, in 2014-15 the West Moberly First Nations received $2,500 of in-kind support from Canfor for a project to enhance caribou calf survival and to help avert extirpation of the Klinse-Za caribou herd, which had been reduced to only 16 individuals. The project was located in the caribou's calving range, in the Klinse-Za first nation traditional territory in northeastern British Columbia. The project protected pregnant cows and their calves from predators during the calving season by using a penned and supervised facility.

In the wetlands fund, in 2015-16 the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council received $4,000 cash from the TD Canada friends of environment fund for a project to enhance and restore the wetland complex at the tip of Long Point in Ontario through phragmites management. The phragmites invasive plant species was identified as the nation's worst by researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada back in 2005.

My final example relates to the Earth Rangers. Through the national conservation plan, the Earth Rangers received $3 million over three years to expand its existing family-oriented conservation and biodiversity programming. Since you do have a witness this morning from Earth Rangers, I won't say anything more about that particular partnership.

In closing, private and not-for-profit partnerships are important to conservation and sustainable development in Canada. Whether it's NGOs providing expertise or undertaking conservation on private lands, or whether it's private sector companies assisting NGOs financially or through other means, these partnerships are important to achieving environmental objectives locally. They do make a difference, and they merit the attention that your committee is giving them.

Thank you.

8:55 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Thank you very much, Mr. McLean.

We'll move now to Ms. Tovah Barocas from Earth Rangers, from Brampton, Ontario. Welcome.

8:55 a.m.

Tovah Barocas Director, Development, Earth Rangers

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank you first for providing me with the opportunity to speak before the committee today, and I'd like to congratulate you for addressing this important topic. At Earth Rangers we believe strongly in the importance of collaboration among all sectors of society in order to achieve environmental goals, and this includes the private sector.

Earth Rangers is a national ENGO focused on engaging children and their families in conservation. Our programs are based on research indicating that the number one environmental concern for children across Canada is protecting animals from extinction.

We travel to over 650 elementary schools each year and give a fun and dynamic presentation featuring live animals, which captures the imagination of students and introduces them to environmental science themes. We also have a membership program, which just last week grew to over 100,000 children all across Canada.

Through this program, we provide our members and their families with tangible activities they can do to positively impact the environment, things like planting pollinator gardens in their backyards and recycling.

Earth Rangers is funded through a variety of sources, with about 30% coming from the corporate sector. We have partners across a variety of industries, including natural resources, technology, finance and insurance, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods.

Today I'd like to share with you three distinct examples of successful and innovative corporate sector partnerships from the past few years.

The first relates to our Bring Back the Wild program. Bring Back the Wild educates our members on the importance of protecting animals, and empowers them to take action by starting a fundraising campaign. Each year Earth Rangers works with our conservation partners to identify four unique Canadian species that are facing threats in the wild. We then develop tangible projects to protect those animals, ranging from conservation research to land acquisition to habitat stewardship.

Last September we launched a Bring Back the Wild project focused on the western screech owl in the Elk River Valley in southeastern British Columbia. The project was developed in collaboration with Teck, a large B.C.-based mining company, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Teck and NCC have been working together since 2012 to protect significant portions of land in the ElkRiver Valley. We at Earth Rangers felt that this could be a great opportunity to bring national attention to this commitment while ensuring continued funding for ongoing stewardship and conservation research in the area.

The project has provided the opportunity for Teck to leverage the Earth Rangers' network to promote its work with NCC to a much broader audience, highlighting its environmental commitment. The benefit to Earth Rangers is significant funding from Teck to provide educational materials to our members about the screech owl project. As of earlier this week 5,200 kids across Canada, members of Earth Rangers, had raised over $65,000 for the project, with a significant portion of these funds being donated by Earth Rangers to NCC to conduct important conservation research on the western screech owl. As you can see, this project is the true definition of a win-win-win.

The next partnership I want to talk about is one with Schneider Electric Canada, which is focused on our headquarters, the Earth Rangers Centre for Sustainable Technology. The Earth Rangers Centre is one of the most efficient buildings in the world, using nearly 90% less energy than other buildings of its size. One of the most unique and impactful aspects of the building is the Schneider Electric building automation system. The automation system controls the heating, cooling, and ventilation, and the operation of day-to-day systems in the building. It can turn on a light, open a door, heat or cool a room, and provide additional fresh air when needed. This sophisticated system allows the Earth Rangers Centre to operate more efficiently and to lessen our environmental impact. Schneider Electric not only provided this system at no cost to us but also continues to provide funding every year for its continued operation and maintenance. It has used our building as a testing ground for new products and innovations, as a sales tool for new customers to see their products in action, and even as an event venue for global executive meetings. This partnership is a perfect example of how the private sector can not only support ENGOs but also leverage that support to achieve its own business objectives.

Finally, I'd like to discuss another form of private sector partnership that has been highly successful for Earth Rangers. We have formed this type of partnership with many different companies, but today I will focus on the example of the Imperial Oil Foundation.

The natural resource sector is unique because while oftentimes head offices are located in places like Calgary or Vancouver, their core operations are in smaller, more remote locations. Many resource companies have put a priority on giving in the communities where their employees live and work and in which they are having the most significant environmental impact.

Earth Rangers' in-school education programs are unique in their ability to travel almost anywhere in Canada. For the past four years Imperial Oil has been supporting our program in Cold Lake, Lac la Biche, and Bonnyville in northern Alberta. Not only does this provide a great opportunity for Imperial Oil to bring something exciting and different to the community but it also provides Earth Rangers with the opportunity to expand our programs and access to children in an area we wouldn't otherwise have access to.

In some other instances, we provided our partners with the opportunity to directly engage their employees in selecting the schools we visit. The employees nominate their children's or grandchildren's school, and the company then sponsors the program in the schools with the most nominations. The employee feels like a hero to their child, and the company knows that they're impacting the communities they care most about.

Without the support of the corporate sector, we would not be able to do nearly as much as we currently do. In order to encourage corporations to continue to give back and to increase their charitable dollars each year, it’s important that ENGOs recognize that support and engage in honest and positive dialogue with the companies that have taken a leadership role.

I also believe the government can play an important role in encouraging these types of partnerships and collaborations. Things like promoting best practices, using its position as a regulator to convene multi-stakeholder groups around certain issues, and providing seed funding for innovative partnerships would all be very valuable.

Thank you. That concludes my statement.

9 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Thank you very much, Ms. Barocas.

We'll move now to Ms. Terri LeRoux, executive director.

I understand you're going to be sharing your time with Mr. Puddister. I'll let you work out the 10 minutes between you. Welcome.

9 a.m.

Mike Puddister Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation

Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Mike Puddister. I am the deputy CAO and the director of watershed transformation at the Credit Valley Conservation Authority. With me is Terri LeRoux, the executive director of the Credit Valley Conservation Foundation, our charitable partner. We both wish to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning about our relationships with the private sector.

To begin, I'd like to provide you a little background on who we are and what we do. The Credit Valley Conservation Authority is one of 36 authorities in the province of Ontario serving a total population of over 12 million people and 473 municipalities. Established by the provincial government in 1954, we are a community-based environmental organization dedicated to protecting, restoring, and managing the natural resources of the Credit River watershed. As the primary scientific authority for the watershed, CVC works in partnership with municipal governments, schools, businesses, and community organizations to deliver locally based programs.

Situated within one of the most densely populated and fastest-growing regions of Canada, the Credit River watershed contains some of the most diverse landscapes in southern Ontario. In this area, the Carolinian forest zone meets the deciduous forest zone, both of which contain unique species not found in other areas.

The Niagara Escarpment and the Oak Ridges Moraine also run through the watershed, further increasing the number and diversity of plants, animals, and communities. The Credit River is almost 90 kilometres in length, running from the headwaters in Orangeville, Erin, and Mono through nine municipalities, including the regional municipalities of Halton and Peel, eventually draining into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, in the City of Mississauga.

The current CVC vision statement of a “thriving environment that protects, connects and sustains us” makes clear that in order to bring transformational change to the local environment, the public and private sectors must identify new ways of working together. CVC has a long history of private sector engagement, with a number of successful projects.

CVC carries out studies to develop environmental strategies for urban streams and the Lake Ontario shoreline. CVC then works with partner agencies, residents, businesses, institutions, and the landscape industry to promote sustainable approaches to caring for natural features and our public lands, residential yards, and corporate and institutional grounds.

Some of CVC’s corporate engagement programs include the Greening Corporate Grounds program. This initiative was developed by Credit Valley Conservation with the Evergreen foundation, and it helps corporations, businesses, institutions, and places of worship to green their corporate and institutional lands.

Partners in Project Green, led by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, with the support of Credit Valley Conservation, is dedicated to creating the biggest eco-business zone in the world. Partners in Project Green strives to build a stronger and greener economy by assisting corporations in taking sustainable actions that reduce their energy and water footprints and their waste generation while improving their bottom line.

Low impact development is an area where CVC is widely recognized as a national leader in regard to stormwater, using new approaches and technologies to manage stormwater sustainably and reducing water pollution and producing other environmental benefits in our communities. CVC works with developers, corporations, municipal partners, and others to develop best practices and implement innovative LID projects. Current partners include such corporations as IMAX, Teck Resources Limited, and the Royal Bank of Canada.

The Lakeview waterfront connection project aims to create a new natural waterfront park in the Lakeview neighbourhood of Mississauga to enhance degraded aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitat and provide public access to the waterfront in an area that currently does not provide such opportunities. A major fundraising feasibility study is currently under way to assess private sector capacity and willingness to support, and we are reaching out to the corporate community for their insight.

One of CVC’s most successful private sector partnerships has been with Holcim Canada. Greg Zilberbrant from Holcim presented to the committee earlier this week. We have been working with Holcim for more than two years on a variety of projects. Through our Greening Corporate Grounds program, we have been exploring opportunities for habitat restoration at their Mississauga cement plant property, and they have carried out some initial tree-planting adjacent to their administrative building. In another case, we are cost-sharing with them on the potential restoration, or “daylighting”, of Avonhead Creek, a tributary to Lake Ontario.

Most recently, on May 22, we were pleased to have MPs Peter Van Loan and Stella Ambler announce funding for a major joint project with Holcim, the Lake Ontario flyway habitat project, a public-private partnership. Credit Valley Conservation and Holcim Canada are the recipients of a three-year federal habitat stewardship program grant of $104,000 with matching funds from Holcim and CVC that will create four hectares of stopover habitat, a combination of forest, shrub, and grassland habitats for migratory birds on Holcim’s property along the lakeshore in Mississauga through CVC's greening corporate grounds program.

I would now like to turn it over to Terri LeRoux.

9:10 a.m.

Terri LeRoux Executive Director, Credit Valley Conservation Foundation

Good morning.

The CVC Foundation works tirelessly to raise funds in support of the invaluable projects and programs of CVC. Raising these funds is a daunting task. As has been proven through numerous research studies by StatsCan and Imagine Canada, raising funds for environmental projects is incredibly hard work.

Research indicates that while 98% of Canadians consider our natural environment to be critical to both our existence and well-being, only 3% of all charitable donations support environmental charitable organizations and only 1.3% of all donations made via CanadaHelps in 2014 were directed to environmental charities.

Imagine Canada's report on business contributions indicated that overall, the four types of charitable organizations that receive the most contributions from the private sector are health organizations, social service organizations, hospitals, and sports and recreation organizations. Contributions to charities concerned with the environment and animal habitat have a firm hold on last place.

The CVC Foundation has generally found that corporate contributions are shifting from traditional chequebook philanthropy to more strategic and results-driven efforts that align with corporate social responsibility objectives. The four most common types of private sector community investments that CVC Foundation receives are corporate grants, sponsorships, in-kind donations of goods, and support from employee volunteering programs.

Since corporate philanthropy comes in many forms, the experience of the CVC Foundation in engaging private sector partners and catalyzing private sector investment has proven successful using a continuum of engagement.

First, we have our corporate sponsors. These are the companies that underwrite our signature special events, such as R&M Construction, Sunshine Design & Construction, Scotiabank and Dufferin Aggregates. These companies play a critical role in ensuring the success of our events through a marketing agreement that provides them with a defined return on their investment.

Second, we have our corporate donors. These are the corporations that invest in and underwrite CVC programs through grants and cash donations. Our major supporters at this level include such companies as the RBC Foundation, TD Friends of the Environment, and Brookfield Homes. Their history of giving to the CVC Foundation demonstrates their long-term commitment to helping achieve shared objectives.

Third, we have our Credit River guardians program, which recognizes corporations and businesses that have made a multi-year commitment to helping achieve CVC goals. It’s about more than money; it’s about companies getting involved, committing to finding ways to improve, and inspiring others to think about what our natural environment will look like for future generations. Enersource Corporation is the founding Credit River guardian. In addition to generous multi-year financial contributions to CVC programs, it is also recognized for donating trees to restore the Mississauga tree canopy after the ice storm, for investing in the CVC Foundation endowment fund to ensure healthy, protected green spaces for present and future generations, and for enabling and investing hundreds of employee volunteer hours to help CVC plant trees, build wildlife habitat, conduct fishing surveys, and remove invasive species from our conservation areas.

UPS is another Credit River guardian that demonstrates its commitment through generous six-figure financial contributions and through significant employee volunteer commitments. Since 2011, 405 UPS employees have helped CVC restore natural spaces and have personally planted more than 4,500 trees.

Our success in cultivating private sector partnerships can be attributed to our understanding that contributions to charities are used as a way to build a company’s brand and reputation among consumers. Companies know that they benefit and prosper from healthy communities and that supporting charities is a direct investment in building strong communities. And finally, many businesses recognize that their success depends on how accepted and valued they are by the communities in which they operate. Support for local charities can help them build social capital, social licence, and support among citizens and governments.

Although the community investment practices of Canadian businesses are quite diverse, our experience indicates that they generally tend to be more reactive than proactive. Companies tend to respond to requests from community organizations rather than to proactively seek organizations that are aligned with their strategic interests. Further, despite the large scope of and significant resources managed by corporate community investment programs, the staffing levels for these programs are modest and most operate with one or fewer full-time staff persons.

Moving forward, the CVC Foundation aims to expand private sector investment and commitment to environmental solutions across CVC's focal areas and signature programs. Our desire is to deepen relationships with the corporations that already support us and to cultivate new and mutually beneficial relationships.

I will now turn it back to Mike to provide further insight and recommendations.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

We're a little over time, but we'll give you a minute, Mr. Puddister, to finish it up.

9:15 a.m.

Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation

Mike Puddister

Thanks.

The government and the non-profit sectors are necessary but insufficient to address society's greatest environmental challenges. We envision a robust sector of the economy that harnesses the power in private enterprise to create public benefit. This sector comprises corporations that are purpose driven, and it creates benefits for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. An environment that protects, connects, and sustains us requires that we, the public and private sectors, act with the understanding that we are dependent upon one another and thus responsible to each other and future generations.

We believe that the Government of Canada has an opportunity to help environmental charities like Credit Valley Conservation and the Credit Valley Conservation Foundation to attract investment from the private sector. As more companies move towards strategic giving that aligns with their corporate values and provides strategic market advantage, environmental charities need better ways to position our value and our cause.

That said, we appreciate that there is some reticence or anxiety within the not-for-profit sector in partnering with corporate interests. However, we believe this barrier can be reduced with the assistance of the Government of Canada. With your indulgence, I'd like to make two recommendations for you: one, promoting and highlighting the value of private sector investment in environmental charities by showcasing the success stories and commitments of private sector champions; and two, creating opportunities for education or training, as many business schools have yet to develop a comprehensive curriculum on community contributions and creating shared value, and there is limited opportunity for practical training in Canada.

We thank you for allowing us this opportunity to speak to the committee today and extend our thanks to the Government of Canada for investing in environmental initiatives carried out by Credit Valley Conservation.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Thank you very much.

I'm looking at your recommendations, and hopefully the fact that we're doing this study will help a bit with recommendation number one in increasing awareness.

9:15 a.m.

Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation

Mike Puddister

Yes, absolutely.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

We're going to move to our questioners.

First we have Mr. Woodworth, from the Conservative Party.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Stephen Woodworth Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses.

I have a number of questions, but I'm going to start with one for the Credit Valley people, because I was very interested in Project Green and the idea of creating the greatest eco-business green area and lowering the footprint of energy and water. This isn't the first time I've heard that idea. In fact, in my region, we have “Sustainable Waterloo”, which is working with corporations to the same end. Also, we had a witness here earlier this week, Mike Morrice from CoLab, who is doing the same thing.

I am interested in hearing whether the Credit Valley Conservation Authority is a partner in any provincial or national organization that brings together people with that same goal of creating a green awareness among members of the private sector. Do you know of any such national or provincial organization?

9:15 a.m.

Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation

Mike Puddister

There is the Canadian Business and Biodiversity Council, which is chaired by Steve Hounsell, former staff person with Ontario Power Generation. That is a national organization that brings corporations together to reflect on their business operations and how they impact on biodiversity. In doing so, it obviously has crossed over into water conservation, habitat conservation, and related matters.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Stephen Woodworth Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON

Thank you.

I'm going to recommend to Mr. Morrice and also to anyone who is engaged in this work that they connect through the Canadian council on biodiversity, because I'd like those best practices to be shared among those groups. I appreciate the work you're doing on that.

I'd like to switch over for a moment to you, Mr. McLean. You've told us about a number of government programs that provide seed money for environmental issues, programs whereby the Government of Canada in fact does put money on the table. You've mentioned, for example, the habitat stewardship program, the aboriginal fund for species at risk, the wetland conservation fund, and the national conservation plan.

I'd like to ask you about one that you didn't mention, and that is the eco-action community funding program. At least, I assume that it's apart from the four you've mentioned. If it's included within one of them, I'd like to know that. In particular, talking about the eco-action community funding program, I understand that money only goes to environmental and community groups in aboriginal organizations, not to businesses. So does it have an effect in interesting or incentivizing businesses to contribute in its programs? If so, how do businesses get involved in eco-action community funding programs?

9:20 a.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment

Robert McLean

Thank you.

The eco-action program operates in the very same fashion as the programs I mentioned, which you just reiterated, the habitat stewardship program, and so on. Funding is encouraged through leverage. For example, the recipient, the non-government organization receiving the funding, is encouraged to find other partners. There are many projects where the other partner is a corporate entity.

I don't personally manage the eco-action program, which is part of the reason I didn't mention that program particularly. We can fund corporate entities. For the programs that I mentioned in my remarks, the only organizations that can't receive funding, in fact, are federal organizations, but after that, anyone can receive funding, including individuals.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Stephen Woodworth Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON

Okay.

I'm sorry to put you on the spot asking about the eco-action community funding program, but in that particular instance where one funds environmental and community groups and aboriginal organizations, you mentioned leveraging. How much of the cost of any particular environmental program under that funding stream has to come from non-Government of Canada sources? I'm thinking it's 50%, but I'd like you to confirm that.

9:20 a.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment

Robert McLean

That's correct. In the programs that I mentioned, we operate at 50%, except for the aboriginal fund for species at risk. The reason for that is sometimes aboriginal organizations or communities don't have the wherewithal to provide that kind of financial assistance, so the in-kind support is really important for that program.

I was just scanning a list of eco-action projects that was provided to me and I am noting that sometimes the recipient is perhaps what you would characterize as an organization. We have the Manitoba Museum, for example, with a partnership that leverages from the RBC blue water project—I don't know if members have heard about that—and also receives funding from Manitoba Hydro.

In particular, there is a project, I believe it's in British Columbia. The recipient organization there is the West Broadway Development Corporation. The sponsoring funder is the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, for example. West Broadway Development provided less than 50%, so more than 50% of the funding came from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Stephen Woodworth Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON

The national conservation plan was one of the ones that you mentioned because money goes through that to the Earth Rangers. Can you tell me what the budget is for that particular kind of programming that went to the Earth Rangers? What's the total budget that the government puts through the national conservation plan for such things?

9:20 a.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment

Robert McLean

For the Earth Rangers contribution agreement, it's a $3 million—

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Stephen Woodworth Conservative Kitchener Centre, ON

No, I'm sorry; I didn't mean for the particular Earth Rangers program, but generally. I'm assuming that Earth Rangers isn't the only program funded through the national conservation plan. I'm looking for the total of such programs funded through the national conservation plan.

June 11th, 2015 / 9:20 a.m.

Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment

Robert McLean

My apologies, I misunderstood the question.

The national conservation plan is a $252 million five-year investment. Of that, $100 million went to the natural areas conservation program. The primary recipient is the Nature Conservancy of Canada, although they partner with other non-government organizations, and some of the land donations through that program in fact come from corporate Canada.

There is the national wetland conservation fund at $50 million; the habitat stewardship program and aboriginal fund for species at risk were increased by $50 million over five years. Those would be the three main programs.

A fourth key component of the national conservation plan is marine and coastal conservation, which is a $37 million investment over five years.

9:25 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Okay, that's great.

Thank you, Mr. Woodworth. We'll have to move on.

Ms. Leslie, please.

9:25 a.m.

NDP

Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks very much to all of our witnesses. This has been really informative.

Mr. Puddister, when you were mentioning your recommendations, I was writing furiously and I didn't manage to get them. Could you quickly tell me them again? Was one a government role to attract corporate donors?

9:25 a.m.

Director, Watershed Transformation, Credit Valley Conservation

Mike Puddister

Yes, the first recommendation was that perhaps there is a role for the federal government in promoting the existence of a number of successful partnerships. Certainly we've heard about a number of them this morning. The work of the committee is exemplary, but we need to somehow develop communication materials that get the message out to the NGO community and the corporate community so that there is greater recognition of the fact that there can be a very effective, true partnership between the not-for-profit sector and the corporate sector.

The second recommendation was that business schools tend to focus more on the bottom line than on creating shared value within the community, and maybe there is some opportunity to influence the curriculum there so that the new business leaders of tomorrow have a broader perspective on the potential opportunities and relationships that could be generated with the not-for-profit sector for good environmental stewardship work.