Finance Committee on Oct. 1st, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you. I know that's in practice with your group.

Mr. Jeffrey, you're saying that river restoration should take place between June 1 and September 30.

[Colin Jeffrey]

It has to, yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You depend to a certain amount on government funding. You apply in December, January and February, and decisions don't get made by the federal government—this year—until we're into September, when you're practically supposed to be out of the water.

[Colin Jeffrey]

Yes, that's right.

I apologize. I didn't really put a list of asks at the bottom of my notes, but one of them would definitely be, can we please reduce the amount of time it takes to review these funding applications?

Environment Canada's EcoAction program usually takes six and a half months to review the applications that groups put in. I just don't understand why it should take half a year to make a decision on those. For that program, we apply by November 1 and we hear sometime in May, usually in the second half of May, about our proposal. It would really be much better to hear in March or by mid-April whether we have the funding or not so that we can go ahead and hire university students who are finishing up in April, and then get on the ground in May and actually get more done.

For the actual in-stream river restoration work, provincial regulations stipulate that it be done between June 1 and September 30.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. I guess the thing is the six and a half months for an application to go through the federal system. I know that it goes through the Atlantic Salmon Federation in about three months. Is EcoAction with Environment Canada?

[Colin Jeffrey]

Yes. As I mentioned, we have had delays with DFO's recreational fisheries program as well. I think this problem does exist with many of the federal funding programs, at least in the environmental sector. Again, with that one, usually it's.... I'm trying to remember. That was announced in July—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

These are usually the same organizations year after year, right?

[Colin Jeffrey]

That are applying...? Yes. Occasionally a new one is created, but yes, many are applying year after year for this funding.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I don't know, but I think that we should be talking to Environment Canada to ask them what the hell's up.

On behalf of the members here, I want to thank all the witnesses for coming forward today.

I know that we have three one-minute statements in audience remarks. We will immediately go to them. If members want to talk to some of the witnesses here, if they could hold for about three minutes, we'll get the audience remarks.

Thank you again for all your presentations.

We'll go to the one-minute statements. Who's first?

Mr. Zulbaran.

[Iker Zulbaran, Member, University of Prince Edward Island Chapter, Engineers Without Borders Canada]

My name is Iker Zulbaran, and I am a member of the University of Prince Edward Island chapter of Engineers Without Borders.

In budget 2019, I'm asking that Canada commit to a 10-year timetable of predictable annual increases of up to 15% to the international assistance envelope. This is in keeping with the recommendation that the committee made last year in its report on pre-budget consultations and an OECD report on Canada released in mid-September.

I was really encouraged to see the Government of Canada commit to increase ODA in budget 2018, but despite this increase, Canada's ODA spending is still near a historic low and below many of our global peers. The increase will simply keep the aid budget on track with inflation.

ODA is fundamental to our shared global prosperity. These investments support vital services such as health care and education in some of the least developed countries. Increased ODA through the predictable timetable of budget 2019 will show that Canada is a committed global leader as this funding helps create a better world for everyone.

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thanks very much.

Ms. Cowper-Smith, you have one minute.

[Mary Cowper-Smith, As an Individual]

Honourable members, I'm Mary Cowper-Smith. I'm a member of the ONE campaign in Canada.

I'm here today on behalf of over two-thirds of Canadians who believe that it is our responsibility to help others around the world. Sadly, Canada's contributions to international assistance have been in steep decline.

Canada currently invests 0.26% of its gross national income to official development assistance. At this rate, Canada is lagging far behind our closest friends and allies in the G7 and OECD, all this despite Canada's support for the Global Fund, additional investment in girls' education, and the increases in the 2018 budget. These were important first steps, but we're not doing our fair share.

I'm here today to ask that, in budget 2019, the Government of Canada commit to increasing Canada's spending on global development over 10 years through predictable 15% annual increases to the international assistance envelope.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Mary.

Mr. Hickox.

[Stuart Hickox, As an Individual]

Hello, everybody.

Thank you, Wayne. It's great to be here today.

I don't live in P.E.I., but P.E.I. is my home, so it's a delight and a pleasure to be here today with my son Jasper, and with Mary.

You've heard the statistics on Canada's role in the world and how our aid for developing countries has decreased in the last four years. We have 300,000 members in Canada and our work is rooted in gratitude, gratitude for the prosperity and the health and opportunity we have here. We're really just talking about sharing that gratitude mindfully with the rest of the world.

We're very grateful also for previous governments that increased aid through maternal and newborn health. The Conservatives were all over that in the last mandate. We're grateful for the current government's commitment to women and girls and the feminist international assistance policy.

This is something we shouldn't argue about, but unfortunately, as the two previous speakers mentioned, our commitment in dollar terms to international development assistance has dropped for the past few years. There is a very predictable increase that we'd like to see as a community, but it's reasonable to hope that by the time the next election comes, this government should be investing at least as much as the previous government did, and we're not on track to do that.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak. You'll probably see a lot of T-shirts like mine as you're travelling the country.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thanks very much, Stuart.

With that, thank you to all the witnesses once again for coming and making your presentations, submitting us briefs and answering our questions.

Members, we have to be in the lobby at two o'clock, because that's when we have to depart for the next stop.

Thank you very much. The meeting is adjourned.