Environment Committee on April 29th, 2019

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I am happy to read it again. We are committed to meeting our target. We transparently report every single year. We have a plan to meet our target and this is a plan that was negotiated with the provinces and territories. Is it harder? Yes, especially when you have provinces like Ontario that stop a price on pollution and then go back. That's like reopening 30 coal-fired units. Let's be clear, when there are provinces backtracking, we're going to continue to go forward and we owe it to Canadians to go forward. We're going to continue to be more ambitious.

It's ironic though that I'm hearing this on the 365th day since we were promised a climate plan from the Conservative Party. You all voted to support a plan to meet the Paris Agreement targets and we've seen no plan. We've seen backtracking, we've seen cuts by other governments that have spent taxpayer money in court fighting climate action—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

With respect—

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

—instead of fighting climate change.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

With respect, the Conservative Party doesn't lead government. The NDP doesn't lead government. The Green Party doesn't lead government. It is the Liberals who lead government. They were elected to lead and elected to come up with a plan. It's a plan that's a tax plan, not an environment plan. We're holding you to account for that. I'm looking at that same pie chart you've got before you. I see things like “Implemented but unmodelled measures". Your plan is full of unmodelled measures. Canadians have no idea whether the carbon taxation that you're going to implement or the clean fuel standard that you're going to implement are actually going to reduce emissions in Canada. You haven't done the modelling, nor have you done the analysis.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

That is simply not true.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

It says “unmodelled”.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I am happy to give you the document that outlines how a price on pollution reduces emissions. Once again, it is with great regret.... We had a former prime minister who was a Conservative, Brian Mulroney, who used a price on pollution because he believed in the environment. He believed that we needed to protect nature because it was for all Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

With that, we're out of time but we'll come back around, so I'm sure we'll hear more.

We'll now go to Ms. Mathyssen for her six minutes of questions.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was looking forward to being here but, quite frankly, I am profoundly disappointed by this political wrangling. We have a flood crisis in this city. The water is at the door and you're wrangling about who does the best job or who has the best numbers. I want some clear answers. I spent five years in the Ministry of the Environment in Ontario under a minister who had incredible integrity. She walked the walk. I want people here to walk the walk and I do have some questions.

Earlier this month we learned that Loblaws is being awarded $12 million from the low-carbon economy fund for refrigerator retrofits. Ideally, the grant should enable GHG reduction projects that would otherwise not be able to go forward without government assistance. Now, Loblaws is the bread price fixing king of the country and Galen Weston is probably the second richest person here. Why on earth would Loblaws qualify for retrofit? I understand this business about the government adding in to what they were going to do, but why didn't Loblaws simply do it all and that $12 million go somewhere else where there could have been a greater benefit?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I wouldn't say there's wrangling. We're trying to explain our climate plan, which is a serious plan that we negotiated with provinces and territories and Canadians.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Minister, I heard nothing but wrangling and nothing but promotion of self.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I'm happy to share the clean Canada plan.

Look, let's be clear that we need to take action on climate change and we all need to be acting together. That's why we are working with provinces, territories, hospitals, schools, municipalities and businesses.

The low-carbon economy fund, which is administered in a transparent way by the department, is a competitive process. It looks for bang for the buck. You said you don't think that we're getting emission reductions? This particular project is like taking 50,000 cars off the road every year. The government puts up 25% of the money, and it involves the HFCs, which are the most polluting greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada was very proud to help negotiate the Montreal protocol to remove these greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. It's like half a degree of warming. If we can take serious action on those....

Let's be clear. We all need to be working together, and if you don't have a plan for the environment, you don't have a plan for the economy. We need to be working to create good jobs. We need to be working with provinces, territories, hospitals, schools and businesses, big and small.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I think if Galen Weston can fix the price of bread, he can fix his refrigerators.

I have another question. A recent Parks Canada Agency report found that 40% of the agency's real estate is in poor condition, with repairs being estimated at $9.5 million, plus an additional $3.3 billion estimated as being needed for climate change adaptation. We're hearing more and more about the need to adapt to what is coming, this tsunami of disasters.

Budget 2019 doesn't allocate any new funds to either of these issues. I wonder if you could advise if Parks Canada has sufficient funding to make the necessary repairs and adapt to the climate change that we know is on the way?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I certainly agree that nature-based solutions are critically important to adapt, but also to tackle climate change.

We continue to invest in Parks Canada and also in protecting nature. We made a $1.3-billion investment in protecting nature, expanding parks and protected areas. We continue to work to manage our assets. If I'm not wrong, we are actually the third-largest asset holder in the country.

I will now turn it over to Michael Nadler, acting head of Parks Canada.

[Michael Nadler, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency]

In fact, budget 2019 allocates $368 million over two years for capital asset renewal at Parks Canada. That funding will be spent in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and allocated to the kinds of issues that you raise: maintenance of our assets in the face of a number of challenges, including challenges that arise from climate change and other environmental factors.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

However, $368 million ain't $9.5 billion. It seems there's going to be a shortfall here.

[Michael Nadler]

You're right. In fact, we are working with the Department of Finance on a longer-term plan for asset management and asset maintenance and recapitalization at Parks Canada, well into the future. We're hopeful that in the coming months we will have developed, collaboratively, a solid plan for the long term.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

Minister, I have been listening to the news. The Philippines are threatening to send back tankers full of garbage. I wonder if you've taken any steps to ensure that the manifestos of ships actually reflect the cargo, because the complaint is that instead of recyclables they're getting hideous waste that they simply cannot use.

Has that particular situation crossed your desk?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

It certainly has. This is an important issue. It's also an important diplomatic issue, so let's just be clear on the facts. This was something that happened under the previous government in 2013, with a company that is no longer in existence.

We changed the rules around waste management in 2016, which is incredibly important. We've also appointed a committee to negotiate to find a solution with the Philippines. We're clearly committed to handling a problem that was not of our own creation but that it is important that we solve.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We'll now go over to Mr. Fisher and Mr. McKinnon.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you again, Minister, for being here.

Minister, as you know this committee produced a unanimous report on protected areas. In that report, we recommended that the federal government partner with municipalities, indigenous governments and stakeholders to protect more land across Canada, and to meet and exceed our Aichi targets. We also asked the government to deliver more funding for nature conservation across Canada.

Last year's budget delivered on these recommendations. You spoke about it earlier: $1.3 billion in funding. I know you're tired of hearing me advocate for Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes, but this area is near and dear to the hearts of Nova Scotians and it's worth protecting.

Minister, as you know, last week I also had the honour of announcing a $860,000 contribution to the Halifax Regional Municipality so it could acquire and protect 135 hectares of land in this amazing park. This was huge news back home. Can you tell us a bit more about the successes of the Canada nature fund and what it will mean for our future generations?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Fisher, for your tireless efforts on this file.

I and our government are always happy to consider solutions for how we can protect more nature. It's because of your advocacy, because you spoke very often about the importance of protecting the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes wilderness area, that we're doing so and offering Haligonians a greater opportunity to connect with nature for generations to come. Protecting nature is not just in far-flung places, it's where people can actually get to it.

As you mentioned, we have a $1.3-billion historic investment in protecting more nature. It's been very exciting to see the interest across the country from indigenous peoples, conservation groups, towns, cities and Canadians. Canadians believe we have a chance to protect what we love but also, as we know, nature is very important as we tackle climate change, a natural sink of climate change as we adapt to the impact of science.

My deputy has pointed out we have many different successes, but one of the most powerful ones was protecting Edéhzhíe, over 14,000 square kilometres in the Northwest Territories, from work by the Dehcho. It was very moving to be there while the snow was falling, while they talked movingly about how long they had worked to protect this area.

Scott Islands off the coast of B.C., the greenbelt area in Montreal, the Isle Haute, which I know is very important to our colleague Bill Casey.... There are many examples of how we can work together.

We also announced a $100-million investment to support conservation groups like the Nature Conservancy, working with partners like Ducks Unlimited.... I think there's a huge opportunity to work with all Canadians to protect more of the nature that we love.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Minister, for joining us here today.

Thank you for the work you're doing on helping us transition into a green, 21st-century economy.

I want to talk to you about plastic pollution. I noted that in your remarks you mentioned the ocean plastics charter as a result of our G7 presidency. You also mentioned the zero plastic waste strategy with the provinces and territories.

I'm wondering if you can speak more broadly on what this government is doing to combat the growing issue of plastic pollution.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. McKinnon.

I know this is an issue that is deeply in the hearts of all Canadians. We want to see less plastic pollution and tackle seriously, for the first time, plastic pollution that is choking our waters, our lakes, our rivers, our oceans. If we don't act, we will have more plastic pollution by weight in our oceans than fish. That's why we're working on innovative solutions. That's why we're pushing internationally through our ocean plastics charter, but we need to do work at home.

I was really pleased last year on Canada Day when we banned microbeads. We've also put federal government suppliers on notice that we'll be working with suppliers who are committed to a zero plastic waste vision. We can use our procurement power. We're reducing plastic waste from government operations. I'm working with MP Fillmore on this: limiting unnecessary single-use plastics from the federal government, including from our cafeteria. They're doing great things but we still have some work to do.

We need to be supporting developing countries, because plastics know no borders either, and waste management facilities are extremely important. That's why we're investing$100 million to support developing countries to develop and implement sound waste management systems.

We also have a huge economic opportunity. Plastic waste has value. We're literally throwing out hundreds of millions of dollars every year. We can do much better with a circular approach to the economy. We're working with producers. Producers need to be responsible for the plastics we produce. We need to be working with cities, towns, provinces—and that's why we're developing the first-ever national zero plastic waste strategy.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Minister.