Environment Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2025

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you.

I would like to move on to the Major Projects Office. Do any of the five projects that have been referred to the Major Projects Office thus far require a federal permit through ECCC?

[Tara Shannon]

Yes, the Contrecoeur project would require a Species at Risk Act permit.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

How are you expecting project proponents to get on this list? Will they be lobbying ECCC or Natural Resources bureaucracies or either of your ministers, or will they just be going straight to the Prime Minister to lobby to get on this designated list?

Are we still waiting to find out who gets lobbied?

[Megan Nichols]

Indeed, projects can be identified in a number of different ways: through discussions between ministers and provinces and territories or stakeholders, or through discussions with the Major Projects Office. There's no one prescribed pathway in order to make sure that key projects are identified in as robust a way as possible.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

How do Canadians have any confidence that this won't be used to select pet projects that are of interest to Liberal insiders or to block projects that simply are not liked politically?

[Megan Nichols]

The legislation, the Building Canada Act, does lay out certain principles that the government can consider in identifying projects. These are things that will be considered, such as the clean growth impacts of potential projects and their capacity to facilitate trade and economic growth. Those are laid out in the legislation itself.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you.

I would like to move on to one of those particular projects. The Prime Minister has indicated that the Port of Churchill might be one of the designated projects of national interest. Are you aware that the western premiers have already signed an MOU to develop an economic corridor to Hudson Bay?

[Tara Shannon]

I think the answer at the table is no.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

It came out of the western premiers' meeting just a couple of months ago. I would encourage the department to look at that.

Now, at the very same time, Parks Canada is looking to create multiple marine conservation areas within Hudson Bay. Can you explain to me why one arm of the government is trying to encourage new projects while another arm—in this case, Parks Canada—is trying to block entire areas of water in which a project like this...? Could it never actually come to fruition?

[Tara Shannon]

I can't speak to Parks Canada's plans for the creation of national marine conservation areas in that region. I would suggest, though, that at times.... I don't know what their plans are, but there are scenarios in which activities are still permitted in conservation areas. However, we can't speak to specifics without understanding the specific situation at hand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Mr. Leslie, you have one minute left.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you, sir.

Could you confidently say that an imposition of restrictions would not get in the way of moving energy-critical minerals or other goods through the Port of Churchill? Can we say that confidently today?

[Tara Shannon]

Not being responsible for the initiative at hand, I don't feel that I can comment on it.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I'll just quickly touch on the EV mandates.

There obviously has been a pause, with a review ongoing. In terms of those particular mandates, when was the decision made to pause, and what is the status of the review?

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Give a short answer, please.

[Megan Nichols]

The announcement to pause was made just a couple of weeks ago. In terms of the 60-day review, it kicked off on that same day and is currently under way in many discussions with industry, provinces, territories and other stakeholders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Mr. St‑Pierre, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

I'll be sharing my time with my colleagues.

I'm curious about where carbon border adjustment mechanisms might fall within some of your work with regard to the Carbon Markets Bureau.

I'm not sure exactly who I should be addressing this question to. We know that Europe is moving towards a carbon border adjustment mechanism, a CBAM. I'm curious to know ECCC's position on some of this work. Can you comment on whether CBAM will become part of ECCC's mandate in the coming months or the coming years?

[Alison McDermott]

I would note that this initiative is under the responsibility of the Department of Finance, but at both the international level and in the Carbon Markets Bureau, the department does follow those developments. We are contributing to the work that's being done in studying those measures in other countries.

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

Could you tell us more about Canada's coal emissions reduction policies and Canada's international contribution in this area?

[Megan Nichols]

Certainly. In terms of thermal coal, Canada has in place regulations to phase out the use of unabated coal for electricity by December 31, 2029. Those regulations remain in place.

I think it's important to distinguish between thermal and metallurgical coal. Of course, Canada continues to be a producer of metallurgical coal in many provinces. We are also members of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which is an international alliance dedicated to phasing out the use of unabated coal for electricity internationally.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

If Canada were to abandon its industrial carbon tax—carbon pricing—what would that mean for attracting investment into Canada?

[Megan Nichols]

Indeed, as we're seeing the global economy pivot more and more to net zero and to being low carbon, we do consider it's an important part of attracting investment. Our most recent modelling shows that the industrial carbon price will bring between 52 megatonnes and 57 megatonnes of reductions in our GHG emissions in 2030. That's quite a sizable amount.

Also, a number of studies from third parties demonstrate the significant billions of dollars of investment related to the carbon price across Canada. I believe one of the numbers from the Canadian Climate Institute is that about 70 major decarbonization projects in place across the country, valued at about $57 billion, are benefiting from either credits from carbon pricing or deferred compliance costs.

[Shannon Miedema, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

I'm just wondering if ECCC has any role in supporting climate resiliency for indigenous housing. I know that the National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. is here this week. I'll be meeting with them.

Is there a division across departments on something like that?

[Alison McDermott]

I'm not 100% sure with respect to that specific initiative, but I would note that Environment Canada plays a role more broadly in supporting departments in their policy development. We have a group inside Environment Canada that supports other departments in policy capacity building with respect to both adaptation and mitigation. We also help support the consideration of climate and adaptation considerations in all policies and proposals put forward through a “climate, nature and economy lens”, as it's called. The lens requires that when new policies are put forward or are being developed, departments need to consider these factors.

Again, there's support given to those departments. I wouldn't be surprised at the technical levels if those kinds of supports were being offered. When departments such as Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada have big initiatives, they generally will have some of their own staff develop that kind of expertise. For example, an adaptation that's extremely important is that the investments being made today will be robust and able to withstand the climate we're expecting in the future. That's pretty much the norm now.