Environment Committee on June 2nd, 2021

[John Moffet]

With this amendment, there would be an obligation to report on progress toward the interim objective. At the time that we had the previous discussion, there was no such amendment on the table, so the objective was simply an objective without any reporting obligations.

This committee has now passed an amendment requiring that the objective be included in the plan, and requiring additional reporting toward the 2030 target. This amendment would require progress reporting toward that interim objective.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

But again, the progress report, I believe it was in G-10, would be in 2027, a year after.

Mr. Ngan, you said that not all information relevant may be in that report. Is that correct?

[Vincent Ngan]

The final numbers, looking back, will appear likely in 2028. Every year, the government would release a report on the projections, so that with the annual release of the projections, we would have a very good idea of how far or how close we are hitting the targets. Canadians will have a very good sense in terms of whether we are on track or not.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Chair, I will make a political statement here, and then we can let this go to a vote, unless other members decide that they want to raise their own concerns.

First of all, it's very clear that the Liberals and NDP came to an agreement quite early. I'm not subject to those things. I'm not going to ask Mr. Bachrach for those things, because ultimately, he's here to present his amendment in the greatest light, and I understand that. I've tried that many times today with my own amendments.

Obviously, the impression I get is that many stakeholders, many witnesses, many people who wrote to our committee, were asking for a milestone. There was a lot of political pressure on the government and the NDP or the Bloc, and I'm sure the Greens as well. We heard from people that wanted a milestone of 2025, and instead, they're getting this. It does not sound to me that these are the same obligations that would be included there.

By adding those extra reports, people may get something that's much different, though political parties like the NDP and the Liberals will say this is a great victory. This whole process seems to have been a bit of a steamrolled compressed one. I'll leave it to the NDP to explain to its voters and to the environmental community exactly why it decided to trade off and support the Liberals instead of supporting a greater action.

That being said, the Conservatives will be voting against this. I sincerely wish that we had a bit of a different process here, because I know there are a number of other people who would want to have their views brought up. Again, 72 different people sent in their briefs, and we received them well after the period for amendments.

Mr. Chair, I will leave it at that. I certainly appreciate that there's been a lot of hard work tonight.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes.

Okay. Seeing no hands, the vote is called on NDP-3.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I think everything has pretty much been said on clause 14, so I would ask for the co-operation of the committee in voting on clause 14 as amended so that we can end the meeting.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think it would be better for us to simply do this at the next juncture. We're already past the time, as you said.

Quite honestly, we have some concerns about the process. I know that I'm already getting on enough people's nerves here, so maybe we could leave it for another night.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I guess what you're saying is that if we try to pass this at the moment, there's going to be debate. Is that what you're saying?

Okay.

On that, I did say at the outset that we would end at 7:35. It's 7:38, so I will adjourn the meeting, and we'll continue at our next meeting.

Thank you, members, for your hard work.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, do we know when the next meeting will be?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Well, I think it will end up being on Monday, but I'm trying for tomorrow night. I don't know what the chances are. It's definitely Monday but maybe tomorrow night, so I would keep your agendas open as much as possible until further notice. It's going to be difficult for tomorrow night, but we're trying.

On that, I adjourn the meeting and I wish everyone a good evening. Thank you.