Environment Committee on Feb. 20th, 2020

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

That's interesting.

[Diane Campbell]

It's validating whether in situ measurements can be supplemented by satellite imagery.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

I understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

You have 20 seconds. You might as well give up your time.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

I'll come back, because Mr. Schiefke has kindly given me his last three minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Madame Pauzé, you have two and a half minutes.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question is for you.

We have not discussed the issue of international cooperation on environment. Will we talk about it after this round of questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Ask the witnesses if they could speak on it because we do not have it on our schedule. Perhaps on Tuesday, when we do committee business, we can discuss that. You can ask the question.

Madame Geller is willing to answer.

[Hilary Geller]

Madam Chair, if I might, I'm going to suggest that our colleague Catherine Stewart, who is the assistant deputy minister of our international affairs branch, could join us at the table.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Good morning.

I saw that there was a slide on it, but it has not been discussed.

The fourth bullet says the following: “Delivering and reporting on Canada's international climate finance with Global Affairs Canada”.

Am I to understand here that the focus is on commitments related to international funding under the Copenhagen conference?

[Catherine Stewart, Director General, Climate Change International and Chief Negotiator for Climate Change, Department of the Environment]

In terms of climate change, we work with Global Affairs Canada. We are currently implementing our contribution in that area. We are talking about an investment of $2.65 billion, provided until 2021. We are currently disbursing the money and thinking about our future contribution.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

You have time for a quick question.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

That would be too long.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Okay.

Ms. Collins, you have two and a half minutes.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I have a quick follow-up. Canada is also currently undertaking the peer review of the fossil fuel subsidies with Argentina to identify inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. The review is currently behind schedule, based on the precedent set by countries to undertake the process.

Is the government or ECCC going to be giving an update on the status of that review, and are you committed to completing it during 2020?

[Hilary Geller]

Madam Chair, I will have to defer that to our colleagues in the Department of Finance because they are in fact the leads on the peer review with Argentina. We're feeding into it, but I'm afraid I'm not able to answer that question.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

That's okay. In that case, I have a question on the strategic assessment of climate change.

Many stakeholders who were consulted for the strategic assessment expressed disappointment in the draft. They feel that what was proposed was not aligned with the strong foundation that was laid out in the Impact Assessment Act.

Can you give an update on the progress of the SACC and explain how the assessment will provide a useful and clear guidance for decision-makers when considering projects that are consistent or inconsistent with Canada's climate commitments?

[Helen Ryan]

Yes, thank you very much for that question.

We did publish the draft strategic assessment of climate change and have received a number of public comments. It went out in 2019. Now the importance is to reflect on those comments to figure out how we then finalize the guidance and also how it interacts with the new Impact Assessment Act, because those two things need to come together.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Just a clarifying question, are you thinking about radically transforming the draft or starting fresh with the comments you've received, or are you just tweaking in small ways the current draft you put out?

[Helen Ryan]

The government will consider the comments that have been brought forward to them, and then in light of the implementation of the new Impact Assessment Act, we'll consider whether or not more substantive changes are required. I'm not in a position to comment further with respect to what may be decided in that regard. We'll see as that file evolves in terms of the publication of the final guidance.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

We go to the third round of five minutes.

Mr. Aitchison.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is about the Paris targets. I know that all signatory countries are required to submit updated reports every couple of years. Can you tell us when the next report for Canada is due to the UN?

[Matt Jones]

As you can see, lots of us are involved in this process. Three sets of reports go to the UN. One is annual, the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, which are historical emissions. That's done every year and made public. Jackie's team is responsible for that report. There's another one called the national communication, which is quite a comprehensive report. That's every four years. Then there's the biennial report, which is every couple of years.

Beyond that, Canada voluntarily does emissions projections, which we either embed in one of those reports, or, in years when there is no formal report to the UN, we publish it independently. We look at future projections of emissions and air pollutants.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

The last few reports showed that Canada was getting further and further behind in reaching our targets. What do you anticipate the next report that we submit will indicate? Will it indicate that we're starting to make some progress or...?