Evidence of meeting #27 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was infrastructure.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
As the clock reads one o'clock, the meeting should adjourn now. Is the will of the committee to continue or to adjourn?
Liberal
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Since I didn't get my little two-and-a-half-minute round, I'd like to ask for unanimous consent to end this round of questions, especially since this is one of the witnesses we invited.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
What is the will of the committee? Can I have a clear conclusion, please?
Can he complete his round of questions?
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Thank you for your co‑operation, colleagues.
Mr. Boudreault, you say that the federal government should support any initiative to certify the resilience level of buildings and that these certificates would send a major signal to the market.
What would the certificates look like? Can you tell us more about that?
Professor, Department of Mathematics, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
Absolutely. In fact, the goal is to ensure that experts visit a property to assess its level of resilience, particularly to damage caused by floods, forest fires, hail and wind, and then present a detailed report to owners on their home's vulnerability, for example.
Homeowners could also take the report to their bank and insurer to maintain their home's insurability and, most importantly, their mortgage credit. This is somewhat along the same lines as renewing flood mapping. It would send a signal to financial institutions about the property's level of vulnerability.
Bloc
Professor, Department of Mathematics, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
The initiative could come from the government, but it could also come from industry. There are already smaller-scale initiatives. I think that, in this case, the goal would be to ensure cross-Canada recognition of the certificates, so that the financial services industry, the provinces and the federal government could recognize all of it.
I would hope that the federal government would support that kind of initiative by subsidizing the cost of getting a resilience certificate, for example.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
In your opinion, does the Government of Quebec have the authority to do mapping for floods, forest fires and other events?
Professor, Department of Mathematics, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
In theory, mapping is a provincial responsibility. The Government of Quebec, with the support of the federal government, therefore has the expertise to do so.
Earlier, I also mentioned the mapping of other types of hazards, specifically rainfall floods and forest fires. I therefore expect that it has the required expertise, with the support of the federal government, if necessary.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
Thank you.
That concludes our meeting today.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for appearing today.
The meeting is adjourned.
