Environment Committee on May 7th, 2026

[Rinaldo Jeanty]

I could certainly tell you about the benefits from the work that's been done for flood mapping to date.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

It's not the people who die in atmospheric rivers in British Columbia, the people who lose their homes or the people who can't get flood insurance.

What we're facing in British Columbia is an increase in the intensity of atmospheric rivers. We're seeing more of these atmospheric rivers on a yearly basis than we've seen in previous decades. What's happening is that we're paying for this twice. First of all, we're paying for it as taxpayers, and we're paying a second time with the losses that result from the floods that affect our homes and communities.

You may want to come to these committees and talk about the benefits that accrue in theory, but I can tell you that, in practice, the implications of the failures of these government departments on our communities are measured in dollars, lives and loss of homes. What do you have to say to that?

[Rinaldo Jeanty]

I will actually separate that into two things.

We have the tools in terms of the public portal that has been created, and we have the work that's been done collaboratively with B.C.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Is anyone using those tools?

[Rinaldo Jeanty]

I would say yes, absolutely, the tools are being used.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

What homeowners in British Columbia are able to use tools for a risk portal that we've just been told the province hasn't opted into?

[Kenza El Bied]

We are working very closely with them to make that happen as soon as possible.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

You said that's 2029.

[Kenza El Bied]

No, that is the open-source data. The portal is available right now. The reason why you are not finding the information for B.C., for example, is that we're still working with them to opt into the portal. As soon as they opt in, the information will be available 10 days right after, and it will be publicly communicated to all Canadians.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

What I'm hearing from you is that this is a great program, and it's going to do great things for British Columbians. What I'm hearing from the commissioner is that $230 million has been spent on something that's not usable, not useful and not delivered in a timely manner. How do you reconcile that?

Since neither of you is going to answer the question, I do have one question for the commissioner.

You've produced this report. It is very informative, and it displays quite clearly for taxpayers what value we aren't getting for our money in British Columbia and across the country. Are there any enforcement mechanisms that you have? Is there anything you can do about this, or is the best you can do to put the data out and hope that something better happens?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

As an audit office, we can access government information and provide reports and recommendations to Parliament. That's our job. We're part of the accountability ecosystem, along with this committee, so we can help provide information for committees such as this to hold government to account. We don't have an enforcement power, no, and that is typically something that's not found in an audit office, given its nature.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Thank you, Commissioner.

Mr. Watchorn, the floor is yours.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will once again be sharing my time with the member for Victoria.

Commissioner, I'll continue in English.

The defence department has a strategy called the defence climate and sustainability strategy 2023-27. We're making historical investments in the defence department right now. One of the measures that we're putting in place is building new barracks. These barracks should be climate-adapted and, hopefully, what I'm hearing from the department is that they are going to be energy-efficient. Is that the case in your findings?

If not, what are your recommendations to the defence department to make sure that our investments are going to be climate-adapted?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

Thank you for the question. We have an exhibit for a text box about the Canadian Armed Forces. There are two aspects, of course. We're drawing on them for assistance in dealing with emergencies such as fires and so on, which was beyond their normal work. With the 2025 budget earmarking over $80 billion to rebuild, rearm and reinvest, this presents a future opportunity for national defence to invest in prevention and actions to enhance climate resilience, including the protection of its assets such as buildings and barracks, to your point.

There's an opportunity there. It would be a shame if the money goes out too quickly before the data is available to build in a resilient way. The whole point of that part of our report is to look before you leap. This is a big leap in terms of $80 billion, so don't build things that will then get washed away several years later, simply because you didn't have the mapping available and just went ahead and built something without that knowledge.

Knowledge is very useful. Good data is useful, and that's been a theme throughout today's deliberations. The more we can plan for the future Canada, which is a warmer Canada with different precipitation patterns and different fluvial conditions than we have now, the more likely we will avoid disasters rather than just respond to them.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Being a member of the Order of the Engineer, I've participated in many classes.

I've taken many classes about how climate change adaptation is necessary and we have to do it.

Have you seen collaboration, as my colleague Eric St-Pierre said, with academics, professional orders and government officials to make sure that the right information is being passed on?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

I'll turn to Director Grondin to inform you about whether that came up in this audit specifically.

Obviously, I'm aware of government academic projects, but I'll ask Ms. Grondin to answer this particular one.

[Marie-Pierre Grondin]

Thank you.

For this one, as you can imagine, with $100 billion in assets—30,000 buildings and 20,000 vehicles—it's impossible to look at all aspects and how academics have been integrated. We have seen it through our previous work on the national adaptation strategy and how that builds into the system, but not specifically for the work that we've conducted on resilience.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you.

I pass my time over to Mr. Greaves.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Thank you very much.

Hello again, colleagues.

Thanks to all of our witnesses. My question is for Dr. Furness.

Thank you for joining us today to discuss some of the report's conclusions around avian flu and the government's response.

I wonder if you could give us a high-level synopsis of what the best practices are that help to ensure that a single reported case of avian flu doesn't turn into a wider outbreak or a national crisis.

[Cathy Furness, Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you very much for the question.

Responding to the outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza is really a shared responsibility that involves participation from the federal government, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, but also industry as well as the producers themselves.

From the CFIA's perspective, the first thing we do is make sure that we identify infections early and put the appropriate control measures in place, so we prevent animals, equipment, feed and manure from moving off the premises while we conduct our initial investigation. We apply stamping-out procedures as quickly as possible to make sure that we are containing and eliminating that virus, which includes depopulating all susceptible species on the premises, cleaning and disinfection, and making sure that the carcasses are disposed of appropriately.

From the producers' side of the fence, biosecurity is the key tool that we need to use to prevent the introduction of the disease in the first place. That is making sure that domestic poultry doesn't have interaction with wild birds and wildlife. It is making sure that, when people are entering and exiting the barn, they are taking appropriate purging procedures and are not accidentally tracking manure into the barn or out, and it is making sure that we have the appropriate records and documentation in place.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

Thank you very much.

I have only a few seconds left. Could you also speak to whether it is considered best practice to secure vaccine supplies early, even when the eventual severity of the outbreak is not yet known?

[Cathy Furness]

I think this question is best addressed by my colleague from the Public Health Agency of Canada if we are referring to human vaccines.

[Will Greaves, Liberal, Victoria, BC]

My time is up, but thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Patrick Bonin]

Can we get a quick answer?

[Kerry Robinson, Director General, Centre for Foodborne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Good morning. I'm Kerry Robinson, the director general from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

I apologize. Could you repeat that question?