Environment Committee on May 28th, 2026

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I have to say that methane is one of the largest sources of emissions and we have made great progress on that front. I think that is important, but I can speak to some of the other things that we are doing.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I want to know how about the effectiveness of Canada's climate plan overall. It is a simple question. I don't know whether you need interpretation to understand the term “overall”.

Overall, can you tell us that we're moving in the right direction?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I think I've understood your question.

We released our progress report in December and submitted our national inventory in April. They contain the most up-to-date figures. We will continue to provide these analyses, but the figures we released are the most up to date.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

That means you don't have new figures, after all the announcements that have been made over the past year, that say where Canada stands now.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I gave figures from April 2026. That's the inventory. You have the inventory, and so—

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

The inventory is for 2024, Minister. I'm talking to you about your action plan.

Have you not in any way assessed the impact of all the deregulation you have undertaken and the gutting of measures targeting the oil, gas and auto sectors?

Don't you have any figures on that?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

We review regulations and the work we do on an ongoing basis. What I've told you is that the latest figures are the figures we released in April.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shannon Miedema]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bonin.

We'll now turn to Ms. Anstey for five minutes.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you, Minister, for appearing.

Minister, as you know, I often talk in the House about government spending and its relation to inflation. It's something I hear about a lot in my riding, as it's very important to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Recently, our office received the breakdown of costs. You were a signatory on this document, so I would assume that you have knowledge of it. With respect to the Canada pavilion and the government's participation at COP30 in Brazil, you attended the conference and were responsible for the expenditures.

The tabled response shows that your department spent over $467,000 on accommodations. When we drilled down into this itemized list, your delegation stayed in private, three-bedroom luxury accommodations that cost taxpayers roughly $28,000 per unit for a two-week stay. The average Airbnb in this area is about $70 a night—$980 Canadian for two weeks.

I'm curious why the luxury accommodations were chosen over standard, more cost-effective options.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

If we're going to compare apples to apples, I would have done a search of the cost of accommodations during COP. They were certainly not $70 a day during COP. The accommodations were shared, so we were trying to be as cost-effective as possible.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

You feel that it was a reasonable amount to pay during this period of time. Well, that's fine. If that's the answer, that's fine. I don't know if Canadians would agree.

In addition to that, there were two private rentals that cost $1,724 and $1,313 per night, respectively. That, for Canadians, is a mortgage payment. Is that also a responsible use of funds for accommodations?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Every effort was made to find the most cost-effective accommodations during that time. You can look. The accommodations were very tight during COP.

It is important that we have a presence at COP. It was important to have us there representing Canada.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

It's the associated costs, though, that I'm asking about, Minister.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I want to be clear. I want to clarify your numbers. You can compare the cost of accommodations in that city during COP to the cost today. That is not the same as what things cost during COP, with the number of people going to a much smaller city.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

This was planned months in advance—

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I wanted to be clear that this was the cost of accommodation. We did everything to ensure that we were cost-effective.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you, Minister.

I want to ask a couple of other questions around that.

Your response also shows that the government awarded a $433,000 sole-source contract to a company called DMDL for space design and furnishing. Can you explain why a competitive process wasn't used for a project that was planned months in advance?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I can follow up with that, but I will also say that when it came to having a space at COP, which is important and gives a real chance for engagement among industry, ENGOs and people from different governments as well—

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Are you going to get back to me on why a sole-source contract was picked?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Yes, we'll get you the details for that.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

You spent $310,000, which is nearly half the total cost, on event management support through a company called MCI. I'm curious. Why does your department need to pay an additional $300,000 to gather event proposals when you have an entire department of public servants capable of managing the schedule?

[Mollie Johnson, Deputy Minister, Department of the Environment]

We are happy to get back to you with the details on each of these elements.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Okay.

Given the affordability crisis that Canadians are facing right now, which we would certainly argue that the Liberals created, how can you justify spending $1 million when Canadians are depending on food banks to eat? In Long Range Mountains, that money could have been put towards projects that protect communities, improve local infrastructure and deliver tangible benefits to residents, instead of funding luxury travel to Brazil.

I'm going to ask you this: Do you feel this was a responsible expenditure of taxpayer dollars?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I will say two pieces. I think it is important that we are at COP. I will point out that I travelled economy, so the luxury travel piece may be overstated.

I want to say what we are doing to support people in Long Range Mountains. If you want to talk about the Canada child benefit, by the way, the Conservatives were giving $100 to each family whether they were wealthy or not. That was taxed. Our Canada child benefit—

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

With respect, though—