Evidence of meeting #29 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 project.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
I believe all of the departmental plans are expected to be tabled quite soon. They're tabled by the President of the Treasury Board on behalf of all departments.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
I don't have those details.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Okay.
Will you be able to provide us with a response at a later time?
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
I believe it's quite soon.
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
They are supposed to be tabled today.
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
It will most likely be in a few minutes.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
The 2025‑26 departmental report states that there are initiatives that will be ending between 2025‑26 and 2027‑28, including enhanced nature legacy, Canada's international climate finance commitment and the chemicals management plan.
Which ones have already ended, and when will the others end?
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
There would be a list of a number of initiatives. It would be easier if we provided a list in writing to you.
Bloc
Patrick Bonin Bloc Repentigny, QC
Can you confirm that Canada is ending its international climate finance commitment?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch, Department of the Environment
One point of precision to add is that, as Kurt noted, many of our government funds are sunsetting. That's something that happens to funds every year. Typically, at this point in the cycle, those reinvestments or extensions have not always been confirmed or announced, and they certainly have not been supplied.
While there are some reductions that are occurring as a result of deliberate decisions not to renew, in other cases there are renewal decisions that are still in the process of being made. It would probably be better to wait a bit into the next year before summarizing all of the—
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of the Environment
That's correct. Any decisions that would be taken on those sunsets or renewals would appear in future estimates processes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Angelo Iacono
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Anstey, the floor is yours for five minutes.
Conservative
Carol Anstey Conservative Long Range Mountains, NL
Thank you.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming.
I think you probably know the direction I'm going to go in with the Parks officials. Thank you for appearing. I'm pretty passionate about Newfoundland and Labrador, where I come from, and Gros Morne National Park.
I wanted to dig into this a bit more, because I get an overwhelming number of inquiries about this. Do you think the $5,000 you're allocating to wildfire management in the national park is sufficient? There are 1,805 square kilometres of park and several communities. Do you believe that's sufficient?
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
The $5,000 was around a very specific question. There is a group that works within Gros Morne National Park on our resource conservation side. The resource conservation staff actually do work in that area, and it would be in their regular budget in the regular budget process.
Above and beyond that, in the last year, we did another study, which was the $5,000, to look at the impact of the spruce budworm and what had happened with the deadfall in the forest.
Conservative
Carol Anstey Conservative Long Range Mountains, NL
That leads in to my next question, so I'm glad you brought that up.
It looks like a tinderbox. Are you aware of how many acres are covered in deadwood within the park?
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
Off the top of my head here today, no.
Conservative
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
We could, for sure.
Conservative
Carol Anstey Conservative Long Range Mountains, NL
Okay.
That's the concern. It's everywhere. I don't know if you've been to the beautiful park—
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
I have.
Conservative
Carol Anstey Conservative Long Range Mountains, NL
—but it totally looks like a tinderbox.
There was also an internal audit or evaluation of wildfire preparedness, but there hasn't been one conducted in Gros Morne since 2022, according to your response. Of course, as you are aware, the spruce budworm and the deadwood are now immense within the area. Why haven't you done a formal review since then, obviously knowing this is an issue?
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Vice-President of Transformation, Parks Canada Agency
We do the reviews and periodic updates to all of the plans based on what the wildfire risk situation is at the time. Although the deadfall trees appeared, they are actually still carrying a lot of moisture. That was found through the analysis that was done in the last year.
Again, there are areas of the country where we have a set, limited amount of resources, and there are areas of the country where we need to do more of those. As you all know, Terra Nova National Park, for instance, was under higher threat and risk in the past year, so that would be a higher area of priority.