Evidence of meeting #39 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 forecasting.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Okay. Thank you.
I'll go back to maybe the history and understanding of how we've gotten to where we are now. Why do provinces develop their own systems in the first place?
Liberal
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
Environment Canada and the meteorological service of Canada have been providing national forecasting services for quite some time. Why is there a patchwork of provincial systems that have forecasting systems that would feed into that or do the same thing? Is there overlap? Is there duplication, or is it an important redundancy?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
I think that's also because natural resources—which water technically is—are under provincial jurisdiction.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
That's right. Why does one province have one system and another doesn't?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
The provinces have developed their own systems over the years. I couldn't tell you why.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
There's a possibility that there was some abdication by the government of federal services. They should have been doing this for a long time. They didn't, so the provinces had to backstop.
This goes to something coming soon. You spoke to the necessity of having our own data, yet it seems our own weather monitoring systems—the Doppler radar system, for example—are facing cuts and, perhaps, reductions in service. How do we square this circle?
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
There have been reports that our Doppler radar system will be experiencing some cuts and reductions in service, or replaced by an AI system that may not use real data but rather start to infer in between. You spoke to needing our own data, but we're not going to be measuring any more data.
Can you help me deal with this contradiction?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
I'm sorry. I couldn't speak to the actions of the government. All I can speak to are the actions we are taking through this bill.
Liberal
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, Ms. Auguste. I'm delighted to welcome you here to the committee for the first time. Our constituencies are neighbours. The Des Prairies River separates our constituencies, but I consider you a neighbour. It's always good to meet with you. As we say in French, we're fans of the Canadiens, so let's both cheer them on. I know that there isn't any Halifax team, but we should always encourage the Canadiens in any way we can.
I would also like to congratulate you on your victory. I know that it took a great deal of work. I want to congratulate you on all the work that you have done for Terrebonne. You're a wonderful young member of Parliament. It's always a pleasure to work with you.
Ms. Auguste, as you know, my constituency of Honoré—Mercier is separated from your constituency of Terrebonne by the Des Prairies River.
Can you tell us how Bill C‑241 would be useful for our constituencies?
How would Honoré—Mercier and Terrebonne residents benefit from it?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
Thank you for your question.
This bill will make it possible to help all municipal authorities prepare flood plains, which will really help them anticipate floods and warn the public.
Bill C‑241 will be extremely useful from an insurance standpoint. The costs of flood insurance are really enormous. It will help people make informed decisions about the location of their home.
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Good. Good answer.
Do you know of any environmental groups or associations in Quebec that support Bill C‑241? If so, can you name them?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
We worked with John Pomeroy and Julie Mireille Thériault, a lecturer at the Université du Québec à Montréal, or UQAM, on the development of the bill. They shared their expertise with us.
A number of groups, including the groups listed by Mr. Bexte, also expressed their support. I could also mention Blair Feltmate from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, as well as a number of other experts. They were able to discuss the bill and they gave their support.
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
This morning, our chair and I took part in a panel discussion. We were joined by representatives from the Intact Centre. We spoke about adapting to climate change. One topic that came up frequently was the cost of flooding.
I often see this flooding issue in the borough of Anjou, which is in my constituency. Unfortunately, many basements flood during the summer.
Why do you think that Bill C‑241 would be a good tool for adapting to climate change?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
The bill that I'm proposing seeks first and foremost to help the less wealthy provinces, in this case Quebec.
Experts want to share their expertise across Canada. The idea is to help them reach a level where they can not only obtain good data, but also adopt new technologies to make weather predictions. New things are on the horizon when it comes to predictions.
They can then integrate these technologies and avoid falling several years behind. We're still trying to meet the minimum standards.
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Good.
I asked about our constituencies, Honoré—Mercier and Terrebonne. However, why would Bill C‑241 be useful in a broader sense? I'm thinking of Quebec, or even Montreal and the rest of Canada.
Could you talk about how your bill would benefit all Quebeckers?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
Thank you for your question.
I believe that, in a world constantly in search of new data, people expect us to know as precisely as possible when a climate‑related event will take place. The goal is also to give them a certain peace of mind.
This bill is really a start. It would help all the provinces reach a good level.
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
To my knowledge, this bill was introduced in the previous Parliament under the number C‑317.
Did it receive the support of other political parties? If so, which ones?
Liberal
Tatiana Auguste Liberal Terrebonne, QC
Thank you for your question.
In the 44th Parliament, this bill received the unanimous support of the House. I would like to see the same thing this time around. That's why I'm open to hearing about any changes that this committee could make to improve the bill so that all Canadians can benefit from it.
Liberal
Eric St-Pierre Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
The Bloc Québécois supported it, along with the New Democratic Party, the Green Party, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.
Did they all support it?
