Evidence of meeting #99 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 projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Ms. May, I hate to do this but three minutes go by very fast. We're out of time.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you very much.
I'd like to reiterate what Ms. May just called for. I'm deeply troubled, and I know that many who have submitted comments on the bill are deeply troubled, that the minister's given complete discretion whether to conduct a review, whether to allow a province to deliver a review instead of the federal government, and to decide whether she's going to look at impacts to fisheries, or to first nations, or transboundary impacts.
My question to the minister would be on the regional strategic assessments. The bill provides absolutely no specific criteria to trigger any regional strategic assessment. It's not really clear who would deliver that. The only strategic assessment I'm aware of that's proceeding right now is directed by UNESCO, and the minister in her wisdom sloughed that off to Parks Canada within their existing budget.
I wonder if the minister can advise us on how strategic and regional assessments are going to be delivered, who will have responsibility, and what the triggers will be.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
I want to just clarify at the beginning the idea that there are no criteria for a project to be considered. There's going to be a project list. We're actually consulting on the criteria for the project list right now.
In terms of regional and strategic assessments, as we said, we believe they're critical, and everyone agrees—it was almost across the board. You had industry, environmentalists, and indigenous people saying we need to do that. We know we need to be engaging provinces and territories. We're in a federation, so we need to be working together.
As my deputy noted, there's an ability to request a strategic or regional assessment, and then a decision is made. There has to be transparency as to why a decision was made to go ahead or not.
Maybe my deputy would like to say something.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
Further to that, as the minister noted earlier, the first strategic assessment will be on climate change and how, in terms of guidance to project proponents in consideration of project reviews, addressing our Paris commitments and the pan-Canadian framework will be considered—
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Let me give you a specific.... We have a cabinet directive on strategic assessment. How does that tie to clause 92?
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
For strategic assessments—and that obviously forms some of the context—the agency will be working to provide guidance on strategy and regional assessments. That will be consulted on. The bill provides for a high-level advisory committee, which will also provide guidance that then can form the basis for those exercises, as I noted. The advisory committee will work with provinces and territories through the open science platform to put the information out, to define areas of high ecosystem value and interest to look at, and to provide these results transparently through an open process the public can engage in and that can be commented on in draft and final form.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Thank you very much.
That concludes our third round.
I want to thank both ministers and their teams very much for spending the full two hours with us, giving us a chance to get a good start to this study.
Before I end the meeting, I want to remind the committee that next week's a bit of a different set-up. We have a commissioner coming on Tuesday. She's going to come just for an hour after all, which means after that we're going to work on finalizing our witnesses and doing some committee business.
On Wednesday, we have a meeting that goes from 3:30 to 6:30. We're going to have Minister Garneau from 3:30 to 4:30, we're going to have his officials from 4:30 to 5:00, and then we're going to have a panel of industry witnesses.
On Thursday it's a Friday sitting schedule, so we are going to have an 8:30 to 10:30 committee meeting with a panel of industry witnesses, and that will complete our work next week.
Elizabeth.
Green
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
I just wanted to tell you all the dolphins got out of Heart's Delight, Newfoundland. The bay opened up, the ice is gone, and they're all celebrating the dolphins. I just thought the environment committee would want to know.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Thank you very much for that.
I wish you all a good weekend, and thanks again to everybody.