Evidence of meeting #137 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was forest.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada
I won't belabour the two things I talked about—slash burning and pressure standards—but I would like to take one second to talk about something the federal government is doing well. We work with the trade commission offices overseas, and also with Natural Resources Canada's expanding market opportunities program.
I'm always fearful that at some point those programs are going to go away. I want to assure you that our industry has taken full benefit. When you look at the growth in our exports, for the small investment the government has put in, plus all the help we get from.... We're very enthusiastic. People in the embassies and people here in Ottawa who work within those programs.... I just urge the government to keep those programs going.
Kootenay—Columbia, NDP
Thank you. We like to hear what's working well, as well.
Susan, go ahead.
As an Individual
I would like to see the federal government acknowledge the potential for biosequestration on agricultural lands, and support farmers in their efforts to sequester more carbon on agricultural soils.
This aligns very nicely with some of the work that came out of the Paris climate accord. The French initiated a program called “4 per 1000”, which says that if agricultural soils could sequester an additional 0.4% of carbon each year, we would have no further need to address other strategies. I would like to see federal government support for that.
Executive Director, Front commun québécois pour une gestion écologique des déchets
A number of measures could be taken, but in the current context, a real strategy should be developed to ban single-use consumer goods. A number of factors could be included in that. I don't think consumers always have a choice. They buy products mainly based on their price. If the environmental and social costs of an object that is purchased were included, consumers' choices would be more informed. Right now, that is not what we are seeing, and it is unfortunate.
I would like to make one last point. Earlier, I briefly mentioned EPR, extended producer responsibility. Producers should be truly responsible. Having programs and then assigning responsibility and cost management to municipalities is good, but it might also be good for producers to take charge of those products. They might realize that placing a disposable product on the market is not a desirable option.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Yes, let's hear the last answer, and then we're done.
Senior Advisor, Government Affairs, Dow Chemical Canada Inc.
If you care about global emissions going down, you should encourage as much investment in Canada as you possibly can because the standards that our industry has in this country are unparalleled compared to the rest of the world. Take methanol, for example, the market for which is growing at 6% to 7% every year like clockwork. If you made it out of coal, it would be six to eight times more energy-intensive than the methanol that's made in Canada.
If you care about reducing Canadian GHGs, we should be looking at the individual users of fuels. Insulation, energy efficiency, helping consumers retrofit their homes with styrofoam, or any of the other potential energy efficiency options will reduce fuel use significantly. Rather than cleaning the fuel that we have, we should be reducing the fuel that we use when it's literally just radiating off the top of roofs.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
That takes us pretty much to the end of the time we have today.
Thank you to each of our guests. It has been a very full panel, with lots of really good information and discussion. If anyone has additional thoughts arising from the discussion today that they would like to send in, we invite additional submissions in writing of up to 10 pages. That way, it keeps it manageable for translation and distribution. If there are questions that you wanted to elaborate on, feel free to do that and send it in to our clerk. Thank you very much.
To all of my colleagues, have a great weekend. We'll see you back here next week.
The meeting is adjourned.