No.
Evidence of meeting #55 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 million.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #55 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 million.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Okay. That's a good answer. Thank you.
You're talking about your department going up by a 42% increase. You're talking about the Impact Assessment Agency going up a with a budget increase of 38% this year compared with 2021. For Parks Canada, it's a paltry 11%.
I don't know how Chrystia Freeland, the Minister of Finance, is going to balance a budget if even organizations such as yours are going up by such egregious amounts at the end of the day. I guess the proof will be in the telling there, but let's get into the numbers.
With Canada's international finance program, there was $6 million in 2021 and $45 million this year for international finance. Can you tell us what's going into Canada's international finance program's grants and contributions?
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
I might ask Linda to take the detailed question.
12:35 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services and Finance Branch, Department of the Environment
Yes. Thank you very much.
The grants and contributions for the international finance program are mainly to help developing countries adapt to climate change and build resilience within their own countries. This is where we have that funding.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Yes. Thank you very much.
At COP26, developed countries committed $100 billion to developing countries. You're saying that this $45 million is just one drop in the bucket toward that $100 billion that developed countries are going to contribute.
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
The broader Canadian commitment is $5.3 billion out of that—
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Okay, so it should be.... Accrual would give you about a billion-plus a year.
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
Yes. That would largely—almost entirely—sit with Global Affairs Canada—
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
At a time when we're vastly overspending in this country and we're running deficits—it's supposedly for employment—we're going to continue to spend more money on international commitments around the world. We're going to increase this deficit.
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
The spending commitment is $5 billion over five years as part of a global commitment to hit $100 billion U.S.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
All right. Thank you.
More on this.... The low-carbon economy fund expands from $243 million to $666 million this year.
Can you briefly go into why that is increasing at more than double?
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
The program was renewed—I believe it was announced in budget 2022—at an expanded level with a broader mandate. I think the minister mentioned this in his remarks.
There are three or four streams. There's some money that goes to provinces for bigger projects, and there are some challenges—
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Is it accomplishing anything, at the end of the day, as far as greenhouse gas reductions are concerned?
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
The revitalized program was launched in budget 2022, so I wouldn't have any information.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Okay. Likewise, there's the Canada nature fund. Conserving nature goes to $430 million from $220 million two years ago. Again, that's double.
Would you put the two billion trees program under this conserving nature program?
12:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
I think that largely sits with Natural Resources Canada, the budget for the two billion trees program.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
The cost of the two billion trees isn't in this conserving nature part of the estimates here, then. Thank you very much.
The other questions I would have are about the publication of your reports. I know one of the items that's indicated in the estimates is the minister's ability to engage consultants. These consultants are not necessarily giving the advice that the government needs here.
I had the deputy minister of natural resources in front of the procedures committee. Effectively, he said that they are making up the numbers. He said that he could not provide where they were getting the sources on their triple, if you will, of your department's estimates on the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the hydrogen economy.
I would like to know which consultants you're using to get all your data, which I find highly suspect.
12:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment
I might answer the question a different way. We get our data from a number of sources. It depends on what we're talking about. I think the minister mentioned that, for climate change data, for example, there's a UN-approved process. It's scientifically collected and reported to the national energy board.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Terry Duguid Liberal Winnipeg South, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a few comments, and then I will turn it over to officials.
First of all, I want to thank Ms. Collins for raising the freshwater issue. I'm just back from the UN Water Conference, the first conference of its type at the UN in 50 years.
Mr. Chair, I know that you have an abiding interest, and of course I will be sharing what I have learned with this committee as we embark on our freshwater study.
There were 6,000 delegates, 1,500 side events and 80 or so Canadians who attended. It was a very rewarding experience for us all. I want to thank our ECCC officials, particularly Michael Goffin and Gemma Boag. They put together a great program and made Canada's presence felt on the world stage, so I thank them for that.
While we were there, we heard about the $420 million that would be dedicated to the largest freshwater body on earth, the Great Lakes, so that's good news.
Can officials confirm—this is in response to some of Ms. Collins's questions—that in the last budget, 2022, we projected, booked—whatever term you want to use—I believe the figure is $47 million over five years to establish the agency and get it up and running? Are my facts correct?
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Terry Duguid Liberal Winnipeg South, MB
The figure of $3 million in the brief from the Library of Parliament is a little confusing. That may be the money that has been drawn so far, but we project in the budget that it's going to be $47 million.
12:40 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services and Finance Branch, Department of the Environment
I will clarify the $3 million that you can find in the supplementary estimates. This was a question with respect to the funding we received for the transition office. We got a bit of funding in budget 2021, which totalled $17 million, but part of it was for the fiscal year that just ended or will be ending this week. It's really for transition purposes.
It's not going toward the Canada water agency per se, because it hasn't been created yet. It's to enable us to come together to plan with respect to the creation of the agency.
That being said, there is, in the total of our main estimates, already freshwater funding there in Gs and Cs so we can contribute to keeping the Great Lakes all together.
