Evidence of meeting #106 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was reductions.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
I'm talking about the Department of the Environment, the very department responsible for the net zero accelerator initiative.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General
That's ISED.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Ms. Côté and Mr. Drouin are the environment department representatives.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Actually, I was thinking more of the Department of Innovation.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General
Yes.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Sorry. I got that wrong.
The questions from my Green Party colleague and others would appear to indicate a rather serious lack of transparency in the data we were given today. After all, a lot of money is being invested in this initiative, to the tune of billions of dollars. We don't really know which companies received funding, what the results of this initiative were, or what targets the department had in mind when it gave money to any of these various companies.
Can you get this information to the committee within a reasonable amount of time? What were the companies, what were the targets and what were the tools you used to determine which companies would receive a grant, and what results have been achieved to date?
Can you get this information to us fairly soon?
Director General, Business Development and Strategy Branch, Department of Industry
Mr. Chair, we can certainly get you a list of all the companies that signed a contribution agreement under the net zero accelerator program. However, in our contracts, a number of commitments made by these companies were not made public, which means that we can't provide you with that information.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Why can't you give us that information? We are elected representatives, and we represent the people. Is it for reasons of confidentiality? Why? I don't understand why this isn't possible.
Director General, Business Development and Strategy Branch, Department of Industry
What's involved is in fact contractual commitments between the Government of Canada and the individual companies. We can report aggregate data on the overall performance of the net zero accelerator program. We also recently published an impact report on this program. You can consult the report on our website.
Of course, that doesn't include all the data to date, but it does cover the period up to 2021 or 2022.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
What you're telling me is that the government signs multimillion dollar agreements with companies but that we, the elected representatives, can't know what we're getting for our money or how effectively the taxpayer money that we're spending is being used. You have confidential private contracts with companies—
Director General, Business Development and Strategy Branch, Department of Industry
We report aggregate data. Sometimes, when a company agrees to it, announcements about specific projects include certain data, including data on job creation or reduced GHG emissions.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of the witnesses—the commissioner, the staff and the department officials—for being here.
We hear about the disproportionate impact that the oil and gas industry has on our increasing emissions, but it isn't Canadians who are at fault. It is the biggest polluters, and it's really the responsibility of government to hold these biggest polluters to account.
In that vein, I would like to put forward a motion. On April 30, we called for the oil and gas CEOs to appear before committee. I'd like to shift that, given that many of them have replied saying that they're unavailable and so on, to summoning them to committee to make sure they are required to come and answer our questions.
I will read the motion into the record.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
I'm sorry, Ms. Collins, but you're tabling it; you're not moving it.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
No, but I thought it was relevant given the topic of our conversation.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Okay, wait just a moment, please.
I don't think I'll accept it as relevant. I don't think we can jump to the conclusion that they won't be coming. We've been reaching out to them, so it's a bit premature to say they won't be coming.
You could always give notice now and move it if we get a sign that they're not co-operating, but I'll rule that notice is required because it's not really related to what we're doing here. However, you can give notice now for the future.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
I'd be happy to table it later. Maybe I'll send it to the committee in writing.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Yes, but again, they haven't closed the door on coming. I think you're assuming they don't want to come. We're not yet at the stage where we're frustrated that they don't want to come.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
For sure. I think we received a number of pieces of correspondence with regard to our previous date saying that they were unavailable.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
It's a question of finding the date. I'll keep the committee posted on that for sure.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
For clarification, Chair, is your ruling because they haven't gotten back to us?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
No, it's because we're talking about the report of the commissioner, and I don't think it's relevant. It's important, but it's not directly relevant.