Environment Committee on May 7th, 2026

[Kerry Robinson]

It was domestically produced, yes.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Okay.

Will the costs for that program be tabled?

[Kerry Robinson]

No, they will not. The reason is that the cost of the vaccine—the cost per dose and the overall cost—is proprietary information through the contract. It's my understanding that we're not in a position to share that.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

We should be able to get it from public accounts—the money spent on different programs.

[Kerry Robinson]

That could be a remit we could take back.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I would appreciate your tabling those details about the program.

Taxpayers are concerned because 95% of something has not been used and has expired; it's no longer useful. They want to ensure there's value for the money. It is a complicated circumstance when people don't understand all the nuance, much like an insurance policy.

I'll cede my time to the chair. Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Fanjoy, the floor is yours.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Ms. El Bied, a lot of our rivers in Canada have hydroelectric dams. While there are lots of factors we don't control with respect to flooding, there are some things we do control, for example, the timing and the levels of reservoirs behind our hydroelectric dams.

I'm curious, in the context of emergency preparedness, about the role the federal government has in conversations with Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Québec and other major utilities that are operating these dams. How is that used to mitigate flood risk.

[Kenza El Bied]

To respond to your question, it is a shared responsibility between the federal government and each.... For example, if we are talking about Ontario, we would be working with the Province of Ontario. We would not be working directly with the municipality.

We have to go through and work with the province. There is work happening on an ongoing basis with each jurisdiction across Canada on how to address emergency management for floods or wildfires. It is an all-hazards approach. There is ongoing planning and conversations with jurisdictions across Canada on that front.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Just to follow up, is that work throughout the calendar year, or is that just when a flood is anticipated?

[Kenza El Bied]

It's during the year. For example, right now, we have been doing some work with all jurisdictions around preparedness for the wildfire season. We do that during the whole year.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

I will share my time with Mr. Greaves.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Thank you to the hon. member for Carleton.

Thank you, once again, to all our witnesses for indulging us in this extra long meeting today.

I do not believe we have anybody from the Department of National Defence. If we do, perhaps the director general could come forward.

Thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it.

One of the pieces that jumped out at me from the commissioner's report was about the large share of federal assets that are the responsibility of the Department of National Defence, which really underscores the necessity for DND to take climate resilience and adaptation seriously for its infrastructure and other assets.

Could you speak to the future planning, perhaps, at DND in terms of the kinds of actions that will be taken to ultimately ensure the effectiveness and operational readiness of those assets going forward?

[Sarah Evans, Director General, Environment and Sustainable Management, Department of National Defence]

Certainly. It is something we take quite seriously at the Department of National Defence. The $80 billion over five years that was announced as investments for national defence include $19 billion over five years for our infrastructure portfolio. In order to help ensure that we are investing in our infrastructure portfolio while thinking about the future and incorporating climate resilience, we have, as was previously mentioned, the defence climate and sustainability strategy.

We are also working on putting together master real property development plans, which are done on a regional basis. Each of those regional base plans include consideration of climate resilience and information from climate change vulnerability assessments, which we have prepared.

In addition, we have the green building directive and associated standards. For each individual building, when we are developing a new asset, we are incorporating considerations around climate resilience into the design of those assets to ensure that these dollars we are investing are taking into consideration climate as we invest these dollars.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Thank you very much for that answer, Ms. Evans.

In the final minute remaining, could you maybe expand on the greatest climate-related risks that DND assets and operations face at this time?

[Sarah Evans]

In 2024, we completed a climate change vulnerability assessment in which we looked at 34 of our main defence sites, as well as five north warning systems. Through that study, we identified a number of high risks, including, in particular, erosion at our coasts and rising sea levels as well as a high level of rainfall. Those are some of the key risks for our assets.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Thank you very much, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Thank you.

It's my turn.

Ms. El Bied, you talked about provinces. You have often said that it's the provinces' role to do certain things. Was it a request from the Government of Quebec to develop this mapping and this portal?

[Kenza El Bied]

Thank you for the question.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Did the Government of Quebec ask you to develop mapping and a portal?

[Kenza El Bied]

Quebec, the Government of Quebec, didn't ask us to do that. However, this mapping tool will be available to all Canadians.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Okay, but that wasn't my question.

It didn't ask you, then. Did you ask it whether it needed that?

[Kenza El Bied]

I'll answer quickly.

Since the federal government gave us the funding to develop this, we have worked with Quebec and had discussions with it over the past three years. We have been working on this together. I can't say that the Government of Quebec asked for it, but we shared the federal government's vision.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

However, to my knowledge, the Government of Quebec already maps flood-prone areas. Are you duplicating the work, or are you letting Quebec do it and taking its maps?

[Kenza El Bied]

That's a good question.

The maps are complementary. That means it isn't a duplication of work. In the portal, you'll see what we have done. We refer to the provinces that have maps.