Environment Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you for that answer.

Along the same range of ideas, in addition to contributing to the percentage of areas that are protected, could you tell us what Parks Canada is doing in terms of improving ecological integrity and the connectivity of national parks to the larger ecosystem?

[Darlene Upton]

Sure, I can continue.

There are three other things that are really important in terms of protected areas and they have to do with their management.

We have a program investing about $15 million a year in projects for conservation and restoration. We're targeting 92% of our places as having ecological integrity maintained or restored. And we're currently at 86%, and on target for our 2023 targets.

In addition, I've mentioned the species at risk multi-species action plans. We're targeting 50% of all those recovery actions to be done, and we're currently at 31%.

Finally, as it relates to ecological connectivity, national parks are important places for species protection. They can also be important locations for connecting corridors. We have about 30 conservation initiatives that are currently ongoing. We are working with partners and indigenous and local residents to improve connectivity of our national parks.

Thanks.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Wonderful.

I have one last quick one, if the chair will permit.

A lot of work was done over the last year to ensure that Canadians could still, to some extent, appreciate our parks and take advantage of them during the pandemic. I'm wondering, with the upcoming summer season and spring season, if parks and historic sites will be open, and what measures are being put in place to allow Canadians to continue to enjoy them and to keep them safe at the same time.

[Ron Hallman]

Chair, that is such a great question. I'm going to pass it to a couple of colleagues in a moment, Michael Nadler and Andrew Campbell, perhaps.

I would like to take this opportunity, if I may, to express my immense pride in the dedication and the work of our 5,800 employees, who managed to go from complete shutdown in March to opening our protected areas on June 1 to welcome more than 13 million Canadians over the summer to have access to wide open places, mental wellness, physical wellness, while keeping all of our staff, and all Canadians, safe in those visits.

I wonder, through you, Chair, if I may turn to Michael Nadler, our vice-president of external relations and visitor experience, who is working with Andrew Campbell, our senior VP of operations, on key principles that will continue to guide us in preparing for the upcoming season.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. Nadler, you have about 35 seconds.

[Michael Nadler, Vice-President, External Relations and Visitor Experience, Parks Canada Agency]

I'll be very brief. Thank you, Ron, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

We will absolutely be opening our sites, and we're looking forward to a resumption of our operations come spring.

Across the country, visitors should expect a number of adjustments, just as they experienced last year, in terms of the operation of our places. Our focus has to be the safety of our visitors and their health but also our employees and all Canadians.

We're adjacent to hundreds of communities across the country, and we take very seriously our obligation to make sure we're implementing measures that respect regional, provincial and national guidance on health and safety and that we're also managing the choices made by visitors so that they're practising safe visitation at our locations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Pauzé, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank all the witnesses who are giving us their time today to help us better understand what's going on.

I'd like to come back to tree planting. With regard to the promise to plant 2 billion trees, when the Minister appeared before us on December 2, in response to a question from Mr. Albas, he confirmed that no subsidies would be given to forestry companies.

Can you confirm that industries will not receive subsidies as part of this planting operation?

[Christine Hogan]

Thank you for your question, Ms. Pauzé.

As you know, this is a program that is led out of the Canadian forest service at Natural Resources Canada, and as a consequence, I would much prefer to defer to those colleagues. Of course, they're not here with us today, but it's a very important initiative and I know they would be happy to respond to this question at a future date.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you.

Under this program, we often hear that the right trees must be planted in the right place. Yet I met with people this week about that. They wonder which species will be planted, whether the trees will adapt to climate change, and whether, in 75 years they will indeed be in the right place.

The problem is that nurseries need guarantees before they invest. Yet no one in the federal government has met with the people from the Office des producteurs de plants forestiers du Québec. So nothing is going to happen in the spring, even if conditions are good. It's impossible. Based on our calculations, you would need to add 40 million trees a year to keep this election promise. I don't know if anyone would like to comment on that.

I would like specific information to be sent to us on the planning of this government commitment.

Can a Parks Canada official respond?

[Niall O'Dea]

I can add a few words. I am the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Canadian Wildlife Service.

For this initiative, we are working very closely with our colleagues at Natural Resources Canada. It includes tree planting as well as wetland and farmland interventions. In terms of tree planting, I can tell you that the trees to be planted will be able to survive climate change.

Regarding the availability of the trees, we launched an expression of interest initiative a few weeks ago that will close at the end of March. We spoke to producers and nurseries across Canada to ensure that they will be able to handle this first phase of the program, which will last 10 years.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

You are indeed right about greenhouses. As I was saying, though, people need predictability, guarantees, before they invest. Nobody has met with them so far. So I conclude that nothing will be planted in the spring.

I'd like to ask Parks Canada Agency officials a question. Vote 1c contains a transfer of $9.3 million for reallocating resources internally to fund the expansion and creation of new national parks, national historic sites and national marine retention.

Since Canada isn't meeting its biodiversity target, I'd like to know whether the agency will use the creation of these new national parks and marine areas to achieve its protection objectives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Who wants to answer that question?

[Ron Hallman]

Chair, I wonder if we might have our CFO speak to what that amount actually is, and what that account actually is, just for greater clarity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Would that be Ms. Blanchard?

[Catherine Blanchard, Vice-President, Finance Directorate, Parks Canada Agency]

Yes.

That account is a special account where we put money aside for the protection and establishment of protected areas. Right now what we're doing in these estimates is depositing $9.3 million into that account. Currently, we have $98.4 million deposited and set aside for the establishment of new parks and national historic sites. This is a key mechanism that we use in order to make sure we have funds available for all of our commitments around establishing new parks and historic sites across the country. This $9.3 million is dedicated to nine specific areas that are in progress right now.

That's really the approach to how this account works and that's the purpose of the account.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Excellent. Thank you for that.

We'll go to Ms. Collins.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a few follow-up questions.

First, to follow up on Ms. McLeod's question, I'm curious about the timing of the requested $55.1 million in additional funding for conservation for the central group of southern mountain caribou in B.C. In February 2020 the federal government, the B.C. government and the West Moberly and Saulteau first nations concluded two conservation agreements for the southern mountain caribou under the Species at Risk Act. This is the first time we're seeing a request for funding for those agreements that were signed over a year ago. In 2020 the government reported the group of caribou had declined, as Ms. McLeod mentioned, to 230 animals. I'm curious to know why we were waiting over a year for funding.

[Christine Hogan]

I'll ask Niall O'Dea to comment on what the last year has looked like. As you know, shortly after the agreement was signed, we went into the COVID-19 situation. It's not that it's any type of excuse, but it probably did have an impact in terms of how quickly we were able to move forward. This remains a very, very big priority. We're looking to disburse these resources as quickly as we can.

Niall, did you want to comment?

[Niall O'Dea]

Thank you, deputy. I'm happy to put the spending into historic context.

Since 2009-10 we have disbursed $3.8 million to support the recovery of the central group of southern mountain caribou in B.C. This past fiscal year and following the conclusion of the agreement last February, a further $8.5 million from the Canada nature fund has been invested to support recovery efforts for this herd. The additional amounts that are identified in these supplementary estimates support us in the further ramping up of that action. In coming years, as identified for Ms. McLeod, things like the tenure buyouts, maternal penning and other conservation activities will be undertaken to support the conservation and recovery of this particular herd.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thanks.

I'd like to follow up on the questions from Madam Pauzé and Mr. Schiefke about protected areas. It's been mentioned that Environment and Climate Change Canada set a goal of working towards conserving 17% of Canadian areas as protected areas. We haven't met that goal. The actual result was 12.1% compared with the baseline of 10.6% in 2015. It doesn't look like we're actually on track to meet our conservation commitments.

In response to Mr. Schiefke, you spoke a bit about the steps to enhance conservation and to attempt to meet future targets. Does the department plan to set interim targets between 2020 and 2025 or between 2025 and 2030 for conserving Canadian lands? If so, when will these targets be published?

[Niall O'Dea]

I'd be happy to address that question.

Again, in terms of setting the context, budget 2018 provided historic resources to—

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

If you could, rather than doing context, just answer the question, because I have very limited time.

[Niall O'Dea]

Sure. So, 200,000 square kilometres of protection in the past two years, and there are 68 further projects currently funded that will see the establishment of new protected areas right across Canada. That is a historic change.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Sorry, in terms of looking at the future....