Environment Committee on June 9th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

We'll go back to Mr. Carrie for four minutes.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Maybe I can continue with Andrew. I liked your answers.

Again, I was curious about the Rouge and the goal to reach ecological integrity. I was just wondering, do you have enough funds to reach that goal? What do you think?

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly, as we are moving along on the Rouge, we are seeing lots of actions and activities that we can do, and we're looking at some of the restoration funding. Of course, through a lot of the restoration funding—Darlene may want to jump in and talk about that—there are projects that we are undertaking in the Rouge.

As we look towards the measures of ecological integrity and what came out of the first management plan and the work towards the goals that are established there, we will continue to make, I think, significant strides towards improvement in ecology, while at the same time respecting the three areas that we had always looked at, which are the culture of the area, ecological integrity and, again, the farming and sustainable farming community in the area. We'll see all of that move forward.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I think it's great. The first one is always the hardest, but if we can get a few more of these and get Canadians involved....

Maybe I could dig in a little deeper on the canals system. Again, it's a great opportunity, I think, for tourism. I am wondering: How do you feel the hours of operation are going to be this year as the tourists come back? Are there proper funds for that? Is there a number you could give me on the infrastructure deficit for the canals? What else do we need to do to bring them up to where they need to be?

[Andrew Campbell]

From a canals standpoint, as we have talked about in several responses, they are part of the long-term asset sustainability approach we are undertaking as we move forward right now. Certainly the canals will be a big part of what we are looking at in terms of asset sustainability. They make up a large percentage of Parks Canada infrastructure and our infrastructure value.

In terms of hours of operation, we seem to be meeting the demand. We aren't getting a lot of questions around that at this point. It does appear from the boating public and those who are traversing the Trent-Severn, the Rideau, Lachine, Chambly and all of the canal systems that we are responsible for that people are getting the offer they are looking for.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

That's excellent.

I wonder if you could touch quickly on the upgrades to the Trans-Canada Highway. I know there was concern, and a big priority for me is these car-animal interactions. I got to see some of the ecological corridors, the tunnels and the bridges you guys put together. We need more. Have you been able to complete some of these ecological corridors around the Trans-Canada Highway in the last few years? How are those projects coming along?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You have 20 seconds.

[Andrew Campbell]

Michael, do you want me to continue on that?

[Michael Nadler]

I would. Just keep going, Andrew, absolutely.

[Andrew Campbell]

In terms of twinning the Trans-Canada Highway, certainly, as we are doing the work, as Mr. Carrie mentioned, we look at making animal underpasses and overpasses to continue to have those corridors of biodiversity and ecology. That work continues. We are part of Canada's transportation network and continue to work on making sure that areas through national parks are part of that system.

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Mr. Duguid, you get the last question.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the Parks Canada officials for being with us tonight, and of course for the great work they do, week-in, week-out and month-in, month-out. Canadians are very proud of our national parks system.

There's a lot of excitement around urban national parks, with Rouge being the first, of course. I'm just wondering where we are in the process of meeting that target of 10 new urban parks over five years. Are we on track? I'm particularly interested in Winnipeg and where we are in the process there. As you know, as a result of today's vote, Bill C-248 is coming our way. I wonder if you would have a short comment on the consultations on the urban park proposed for Windsor. My understanding is that consultations have been going on for two years. This is not a new thing that just came about today. Maybe comment on the importance of carrying on those consultations in the right way, so that we all get the result we want.

[Darlene Upton]

As you are aware, we received funding in budget 2021 for up to six new national parks, and there is a commitment for more to come. We have seven projects under way, right now, coast to coast. In several of those places, we have established partner committees that are now actively working on studying the potential of having a national urban park in their location.

I will highlight a couple of new things.

First, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Transport for the transfer of the Ojibway Shores lands. The eventual transfer of those lands will be a very important part of the Windsor national urban park, once established. That was a significant step forward for us.

Second, we've now held a series of engagement sessions focused on two main areas. One series was focused on the contribution of urban parks to biodiversity and climate resilience, while another focused on looking at accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion in national urban parks.

In terms of where we are in our process, we are engaging all the multi-jurisdictional partners. This involves consultation and discussion. It is our process to take the time required with our indigenous and other jurisdictional partners to ensure the vision for national urban parks is strong, so we can get as many benefits out of the creation of these places as possible.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Consultations continue. That's great. Thank you very much.

I have a very quick question.

Do we have a global figure for the deficit for Parks Canada infrastructure, coast to coast to coast? I wonder, in your next year's estimates and requests for budget, are you planning for climate impacts, and will you be participating in the process to develop a national adaptation strategy?

As you know, this is a government commitment. It would seem to me that we need to start preparing for the future, because those climate impacts are upon us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You have 15 seconds to answer those two questions as succinctly as possible.

[Darlene Upton]

We are working with partners on the national adaptation strategy. Parks Canada signed an international joint statement, which was presented at COP26. It acknowledges protected areas as nature-based solutions to climate adaptation. We've done analysis within Parks Canada, and we know that the lands we administer are worth about $300 billion a year in ecosystem services, so protected areas are a very important part of the climate adaptation solution.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We're going to have to stop there, unfortunately.

Thank you to all of our witnesses for some very interesting answers around some very interesting issues. I know I learned a lot from the discussion. I'm sure the same goes for other members.

We're going to have to break now, because we go in camera.

This is to the members: The link to the in camera Zoom meeting is in the original Zoom email. I imagine that's clear enough. We'll disconnect now, then reconnect. We'll see you all again in a couple of minutes.

Thanks again to our witnesses. We appreciated having you tonight.

[Proceedings continue in camera]