Environment Committee on Oct. 7th, 2024

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you to the witnesses for being here with us.

A lot of figures have been going around regarding what climate change may have cost. Those figures are a good indication that it costs a lot. We do not talk about that enough to my liking.

Ms. Daniels, you may be the best person to answer my question.

In 2023 in Quebec, there were 566 fires in what are called intensive protection zones and 147 others in what is called the northern zone. An area of over four million hectares was burned. In 99.9% of cases, the fire was started by lightning. The number of such fires is higher than the total number recorded in the last 20 years from all causes.

When we go to the website of SOPFEU, Quebec's organization for the protection of forests against fire, we learn that it has enough capacity to fight 30 fires at a time, or one fire covering more than 1,000 hectares. On June 4, 2023, there were 155 active fires at the same time. When we see these figures, we grasp the magnitude of what is really waiting for us.

What do you think a government can or should do to help plan the allocation of emergency resources when there are multiple catastrophic events happening at the same time? That is exactly what happened in Quebec: Even though there were people fighting the fires, the number of fires was far too high.

Do you have any advice about what a government could do?

[Dr. Lori Daniels]

This problem of multiple fires at the same time causing a crisis is not limited to Quebec: We are finding it in provinces across the country. We know that wildfires and extreme wildfires are overwhelming our suppression capability and exceeding all modern technology. This is a global problem, which is why we are also advocating proactive and transformative forest management to ensure that our landscapes and communities will be resilient to future fires through fuels mitigation and prescribed and cultural burns concentrated around communities, but also expanding onto the landscape.

The forest industry and forest management have the greatest impact on our landscapes across Canada. It is critical that our forest management be transformed in a way that ensures that we have resilient ecosystems into the future, which involves diversifying our silviculture and harvesting practices and the trees that we replant, and also modifying the way that we allow fire to interact with those forests.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Loewen, you are a member of the Government of Alberta. As you know, Bill C‑76, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act seeks to eliminate barriers to rebuilding the town of Jasper, one element being to allow for rationalization of local authorities' decision-making process. Do you believe that this bill will facilitate rebuilding Jasper following the forest fires?

[Todd Loewen]

I think it will be interesting to see how Bill C-76 works out when it's actually implemented. I think Bill-76 is a good start.

We would like to see fewer barriers and have more autonomy within Alberta and within the town of Jasper itself. We have a municipality there that's capable of making decisions and a provincial government that has its Municipal Government Act, which I believe is capable of taking care of things there too, so I would love to see fewer restrictions from the federal government and Parks Canada when it comes to rebuilding Jasper.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Gault, you are the spokesperson for employees, for union members. Do the members of your union often talk to you about the extent of climate change-related problems?

[James Gault]

Yes, our members talk quite frequently about climate change, how the fires act and how they have been growing every year.

The fires are getting harder and hotter to fight. In some of the areas we never had fires before, but with climate change happening now, these are new areas where the pine beetle infestation was before. Everybody knew the fire would start there at some point, but I don't think anybody took into consideration that climate change would increase that.

We are now facing the reality that for those who don't even want to agree with climate change, the fires are getting hotter and harder to fight, and our members are facing that as their resources are being stretched thin.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you, Ms. Pauzé.

Ms. Collins, we are going to conclude with you, given that the meeting has already gone on for two hours and we do not have the resources needed to keep it going much longer. The floor is yours.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here—

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I'm sorry. Just hold on a second. I have a point of order.

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

Do we not have resources until 1:30?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes, but we're already at 1:15.

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

Yes, so we have some more rounds....

Oh, I hear what you're saying. Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes. We're going to have only 30 seconds. It doesn't make any sense to—

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

Will we do another round, though?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Well, we have resources only until 1:30.

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

Okay, so are we going until 1:30, then?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes.

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

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Well, I mean, if we have five minutes left, we can't have.... You know, we can talk about—

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

We'll keep on going, though. Okay. Very good.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

No, I didn't say we'd keep on going. I'm saying that we can't start another round if we have only five minutes.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Maybe we could discuss this after my round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We're not eating into your time. I've been asked a question by Mr. Mazier.

The time is really tight. There's no way we can have another round of questions.

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

Then after Ms. Collins....