Environment Committee on Nov. 27th, 2024

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Chair, this is my time, and I've had the same amount of time to ask the question.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

—of managed forest around Jasper, after they did nothing.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Chair, I guess he's not going to answer the question. He's just going to put blame on others.

You've been in government for nine years already—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would love to table in this committee the report from Parks Canada that shows exactly what I just said.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, we'll go back to Mr. Soroka now.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Thank you.

Minister, it's easy to put blame when you've been in government for already nine years, but yet you still haven't done anything. The mountain pine beetle happened under your watch. You didn't do enough. Could you please explain how many acres of Jasper National Park are affected by the mountain pine beetle?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Chair, with your permission, I would like to table the report to this committee that was prepared by Parks Canada, which shows how many hectares in the last 15—almost 20—years have been managed around Jasper. It shows exactly what I just said. For four consecutive years, they did nothing.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Okay, that's nice. Thank you. If he can supply that information then....

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

We've invested in preparing more than a thousand hectares, in managing a thousand hectares around Jasper.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You can table it, yes, and we'll distribute it.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

The answer, then, is that about 154,000 acres were affected, and with that, to the northwest of Jasper, there are still a lot of trees that were not burned. They were not touched at all. There are a lot of dead trees there from the mountain pine beetle.

What is your plan to deal with this so that we don't have another catastrophe and have another section of Jasper burn, if not all of the town of Jasper? What's your plan for these dead trees and for the protection of the town?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

While they've invested in zero hectares for four consecutive years, since we've been in power, we've invested to better manage a thousand hectares. Zero versus 1,000 is the difference between their approach and our approach, Mr. Chair.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

That sounds very nice. You want to bring out numbers, so let's bring out numbers then.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I'll be happy to table the report that shows that in this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Please do table the report. Yes, please.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

We're looking at the fact that there are 32,000 hectares or roughly 80,000 acres that were burnt in this last fire in Jasper National Park.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I question the relevance if we're going to focus entirely on—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Well, I must admit, it's a stretch, but it is about biodiversity. I'm not an expert in biodiversity, but biodiversity affects the health of forests. I suppose the health of forests determines how vulnerable forests are to fires.

I'll let Mr. Soroka continue. You have a little less than three minutes.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

My question is on the fact that the minister even spoke in his opening comments about forests, so I don't understand this.

With that, they are planting about 5,000 new trees within Jasper National Park. Five hundred trees per acre is what it takes for a healthy forest. Therefore, out of 80,000 acres, you've planted roughly 10 acres to restore the forest.

Don't you think that it's basically a joke and that you're really not doing much for biodiversity there at all?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The joke, Mr. Chair, is that these members are of a party that doesn't even recognize that climate change is real and that is perfectly happy to let the planet burn by doing nothing to tackle the impacts of climate change. It has no plan, whatsoever, to help Canadians and our ecosystems adapt to the impacts of climate change. They come here and take some kind of moral high ground on something they've done nothing on, Mr. Chair, for years. That's a tragic joke, Mr. Chair.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Okay, that's very nice, Minister.

I have another question. Former minister Randy Boissonnault was appointed as the ministerial lead on Jasper's recovery. Now that he has resigned in disgrace, who is actually in charge of helping Jasper to recover, in the Liberal government?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The committee is still ongoing and still meeting. In fact, at our last meeting, we invited the mayor of Jasper so that he can be part of the conversations we're having for the reconstruction of Jasper.

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Therefore, you don't have anyone named yet. The former minister resigned last week.

Are you going to be the person in charge? Who would we actually be able to contact? This government has lacked, quite significantly, in assisting the town to recover from this fire.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Your government has lacked: You're right.

You can call me. You can call the Minister of Emergency Preparedness. There's a number of—

[Gerald Soroka, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Okay, we're not in government yet, Minister: You do realize that you've been there for nine years, correct?