Environment Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2025

[Ellis Ross, Conservative, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

The guy took time to get the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Yes, that's why I gave you extra. I didn't want to cut you before your question. I was giving her time to respond.

Next, it's over to....

Who is going first? Is it Mr. St-Pierre?

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Yes. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

If anyone wants to share their time, please let me know who you'd like to share it with before we start, just so I'm aware.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

All right. I will be sharing my time with my colleagues Bruce Fanjoy and Shannon Miedema.

Thank you for the excellent presentation, Ms. McDermott, and thanks to all of you for the wonderful work you do.

You mentioned that no single government can meet these challenges alone and that protecting the environment is a matter of shared jurisdiction. Can you comment further on the role of provinces in meeting Canada's NDCs, the nationally determined contributions, and also comment on whether Quebec is meeting those challenges?

[Alison McDermott]

Yes, that's absolutely right: Environment is very much a shared area of jurisdiction, and a lot of the levers rest with provincial and even municipal governments.

Canada's emissions reduction plan includes participation from all the provinces and territories, and we have a number of mechanisms to collaborate with those provinces and territories. Meetings of the ministers of environment happen every year, and we have a lot of regulatory co-operation and co-operation with respect to management of pollution pricing, for example.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Go ahead, Mr. Fanjoy.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you all for joining us here today.

I'd also like to hear about co-operation with municipalities. Municipalities are a creation of provinces, I suppose, but they are the source of a great deal of greenhouse gas emissions and they are where millions of Canadians live. I'd like to hear how the department works directly with municipalities to help us meet our objectives.

[Alison McDermott]

There are many examples.

First of all, we do strive to respect constitutional jurisdictions. We work through provinces in most cases, but we do have some programs, such as the green municipal fund, that are directly made available to municipalities and support a range of actions and investments to reduce greenhouse gases and prepare Canada to be ready for Canada's changing climate.

We have a number of programs in our emissions reduction plan and our national adaptation strategy. If more details are required, we'd be happy to provide more examples.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Thank you.

Ms. Miedema is next.

[Shannon Miedema, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thank you for the presentation.

I'm curious. I'm wondering if you can speak a bit to the new division of responsibilities now that we have a secretary of state for nature and Minister Thompson is now the Minister of Fisheries, not “Fisheries and Oceans”.

I'm particularly curious about the Species at Risk Act. For example, is DFO responsible for endangered ocean species, or does that rest wholly with ECCC?

[Tara Shannon, Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment]

Currently, the secretary of state for nature is actually cross-appointed to four different ministers who have a role in delivering on the nature agenda.

With respect to the Species at Risk Act, for terrestrial species, the responsibilities for the act rest currently with the Minister of Environment. Aquatic species are the responsibility of the Minister of Fisheries. There is a close collaboration between those two ministers on the implementation of the act, but that is more or less how the act is distributed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Thank you, Shannon.

Go ahead, Monsieur St-Pierre.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Ms. McDermott, during your presentation you mentioned the regulation of emissions reductions and the design and implementation of carbon pricing. Can you comment a bit on whether that includes some of the work around the industrial carbon price? Are you able to comment on whether the output-based pricing system or industrial carbon price regulation is forthcoming?

Can you comment on the industrial carbon price, please?

[Alison McDermott]

I'll turn that over to my colleague Megan.

[Megan Nichols]

Certainly, this does include our work on carbon pricing.

When the government removed the federal fuel charge back in March, it announced that we would be renewing our focus on industrial carbon pricing as one of the key pillars to achieving our climate goals and that we would be engaging with provinces and territories and industry on how to strengthen that system and make sure that it's working as effectively as possible.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Okay.

Speaking of carbon pricing, this is not necessarily widely understood, but the purpose of carbon pricing isn't to pay it but to avoid it. I'd like to know what we are doing to work with industry to help innovate and persuade, so that ultimately we are both reducing emissions and improving bottom lines by avoiding unnecessary costs like carbon pricing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Give us a short answer, please.

[Megan Nichols]

Certainly.

Indeed, the intent of carbon pricing is to keep costs low for regulatees and provide them with maximum flexibility on how to comply as well as to drive investment in decarbonization.

There are three ways a company can comply: They can reduce their emissions so that they are below the required limit, they can purchase credits or they can pay the price directly to government. It's purposely designed to have a lot of flexibility to encourage the kind of innovation that you're mentioning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Thank you, Ms. Nichols.

Mr. Bonin, you have the floor.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to point out that my colleague Sébastien Lemire will be replacing me partway through the meeting. I'm sorry I can't be here for the whole meeting.

First of all, since Mr. Carney took office, we've seen some fairly worrisome setbacks in the fight against climate change, specifically the abolition of carbon pricing for individuals and the postponement of implementing zero-emission standards, which was scheduled for 2026.

Can you give us an update on the 2030 emissions reduction plan? I would like to know where we are in meeting the target for 2030, or even 2026, for that matter. Also, what impact will these setbacks have?

[Alison McDermott]

I'll try to answer that question.

I'll start by saying that the government has made a great deal of progress in decarbonizing the Canadian economy. As we just described, we've implemented a number of foundational programs and policies, such as carbon pricing and other regulations, investment tax credits, and many policies to help businesses and Canadians reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

My question has more to do with the impact of the setbacks, Ms. McDermott.

[Alison McDermott]

I'll answer that question directly.

The Prime Minister has already reaffirmed his commitment to fighting climate change and achieving net zero by 2050. He believes, as does the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, that the fight against climate change is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic imperative. The world is moving towards a low-carbon economy—

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I'm sorry, Ms. McDermott, but we have very little time this morning. My question is not about what Mr. Carney said, it's about the impact of setbacks on carbon pricing and delaying the implementation of zero-emission standards on the achievement of greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2026 and 2030.