Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today as you consider the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development's “Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change” audit findings, as they relate to Transport Canada.
Impacts associated with a changing climate and extreme weather are already damaging and disrupting transportation systems, services, and operations across all modes and in all regions of Canada. We recognize that a more resilient transportation system is critical to Canada's long-term prosperity as a trading nation, and also to Canadians' safety and quality of life.
The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development's audit found that Transport Canada is one of five departments that have effectively assessed climate change risks to our activities and taken adaptation action. Transport Canada was pleased to see examples of our adaptation work highlighted within the commissioner's report, including the points that follow.
Our departmental climate risk scan focused on identifying potential climate change impacts to Transport Canada's assets, regulatory activities, and programs. Our departmental adaptation plan includes objectives, expected results, roles and responsibilities, and timelines. Our report, “Climate Risks & Adaptation Practices for the Canadian Transportation Sector”, which was co-led with Natural Resources Canada, is a foundational, publicly available source of current knowledge about climate risks to the Canadian transportation sector and about best adaptation practices.
Infrastructure engineering assessments of three northern airports were undertaken by Transport Canada in partnership with territorial governments; these assessments provided information on potential vulnerabilities of the airports' infrastructure to the changing climate, and the observations, conclusions, and recommendations can directly support more informed decision-making about infrastructure operations, maintenance, planning, and development.
Finally, climate risk considerations have been integrated into our departmental risk planning processes, such as our corporate risk profile, since 2011-12.
I'll leave it there. Thank you.