Environment Committee on June 4th, 2024

[Haseen Khan]

Thank you very much.

As I mentioned earlier, I think the best role that Canada water agency can play for Newfoundland and Labrador as well as for other jurisdictions is to act as a one-stop shop for all water-related issues and to provide national guidance to deal with emerging water issues in terms of best management practices and standard operating protocols that will apply to various regions of the country as well as to facilitate the management of various ongoing cost-share and work-share programs between federal government and jurisdictions, provincial and territorial governments.

The most important thing is to see additional innovation and research and development that will help jurisdictions to respond to climate change adaptation and climate change impacts.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you so much.

Chair, I'd like like to share my time with Mr. Longfield, please.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I managed a business that supplied water filters to paper mills. I was criticized, at some points of the year, because they had way too many filters, but when the floods hit in the spring they needed all the help they could get.

To Mr. Khan, can you comment on how important it is to maintain data so that we can adapt quickly when we need to?

[Haseen Khan]

Data plays a very important role in responding to these natural disasters or emergencies. We in Newfoundland and Labrador experienced a number of floods, which were not there historically, and we attribute those to climate change. Our real-time data monitoring network, both for water quantity and quality, is a blessing and a lifesaver because we can alert people in advance that “these are the areas that are potentially going to be flooded” and “these areas should be evacuated”.

We work with our fire and emergency services, so we work as a team in which our role is to analyze that technical data on a real-time basis and then share that information with municipalities and first responders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Mr. Khan, I don't know if you've heard of Bill C-317. It dovetails with everything you're saying, and I hope it gets through the Senate.

That was a really interesting discussion from a different perspective—not from the perspective of provinces like Ontario, Quebec and B.C., but from the perspective of provinces in the Atlantic, which have different needs and a different perspective. Thank you. I think we benefited greatly from your testimony.

We're going to take a short break because we're going into a 106(4) meeting, colleagues.

Thank you again for making the trip to Ottawa for this meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We'll get back to it.

Mr. Mazier.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Can you confirm with the clerk that the funding agreements requested by this committee for the net-zero accelerator fund have not been received?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Madam Clerk, have you received copies of the net-zero accelerator funding agreements?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Natalie Jeanneault]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Mr. van Koeverden, do you want to intervene on that?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Not before Mr. Mazier is finished....

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

He's finished, I think. That was his question.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

No, that's just the beginning. I just wanted to get that answer.

We have not received those documents. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I haven't seen them.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

No, we have not seen them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, that was a rhetorical question.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

The records from Industry, Science and Economic Development with respect to the net-zero accelerator fund were received about two weeks ago. Is that not what we're talking about?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

There was a letter or some kind of—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

There was a motion put forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

No, there was a—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

You made it quite clear that we have not received the documents requested for the net-zero accelerator fund. We have not seen those agreements. That's it. You've answered the question and the clerk has confirmed.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Here we go. I'd like to move the following motion. I move:

Given that the government has failed to provide the committee with the following documents and information relating to their 8-billion-dollar Net Zero Accelerator fund:

all complete contributions agreements signed, to date, for the Net Zero Accelerator;

the government's complete tracker tool used to measure the Net Zero Accelerator's progress and results; and

all internal Net Zero Accelerator targets set by the government, including the government's Net Zero Accelerator emission reduction target—

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Go ahead, Ms. Pauzé.