Evidence of meeting #84 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 information.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Earlier, my colleague, Mr. Deltell, noted that he had bought a second-hand zero-emission vehicle in Quebec. I'd be remiss if I didn't note that his province of Quebec and my province of British Columbia are the only two provinces that have incentives in place for used zero-emission vehicles. It's appeared in two mandate letters for the federal Minister of Environment to put a federal incentive in place for used vehicles, yet we have seen nothing from this government. It seems like one of the things that could be done.
On the topic of government fleet vehicles, every day that I'm in the capital I walk from my office in Confederation Building up that little hill to West Block. Many days, I walk past a long line of black government SUVs that carry the ministers around to their various locations around town. I may be mistaken, but in the four years I've been here, I've noticed only one zero-emission vehicle that carries a minister of this government. That is the black Chevy Bolt that carries the Minister of Environment.
It would seem, for a government that at times seems fixated on optics over substance, that this wouldn't just be the low-hanging fruit; this is the lowest-hanging fruit. This is fruit you can pick lying on your back under the tree.
12:55 p.m.
Voices
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12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
We talk about a whole-of-government approach.... I don't even know who I'm going to ask this question to, Mr. Chair, because it's more of a comment.
One of Mr. DeMarco's observations in his report is that there's a lack of a whole-of-government approach. It seemed to me that this symbol—the fact that there's only one vehicle that totes ministers around Ottawa that is a zero-emission vehicle—is a really poignant example of the lack of a whole-of-government approach.
My question, and how I'll end our meeting today, is to just ask Mr. DeMarco if he would agree.
12:55 p.m.
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Office of the Auditor General
In a few seconds....
In terms of low-hanging fruit, I'm not sure if it's that easy or whether an analogy could be made to Tantalus. We'll have to see in terms of how easy it is to switch.
I believe there actually is a requirement for executives—ministers and deputy ministers.... Perhaps our friend from Treasury Board could elaborate on that. It isn't supposed to be a situation in which there are only one or two. The executive fleet is supposed to be green.
November 9th, 2023 / 12:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Centre for Greening Government, Treasury Board Secretariat
Yes, there is a requirement for executive vehicles to be electric. Currently, there are 84 executive vehicles, of which only four have internal combustion engines. The rest are hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid or electric.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
12:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Centre for Greening Government, Treasury Board Secretariat
It's not zero emission, but the requirement is that it be hybrid or electric, with a priority on electric. There are 19 plug-in hybrids, four electric and, as they turn over, the requirement—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Dan Mazier
Good. Thank you very much. Thank you to everyone. Thank you to the witnesses for coming out.
Commissioner, thank you for doing this study. As you can tell, there are still lots of questions and lots of good data we can still get out of this to make sure this important subject moves forward.
Thank you to everyone who was supporting the committee today.
The meeting is adjourned.