Fisheries Committee on June 5th, 2018

[Catherine Blewett]

I may actually turn to Mario. He's our lead for fisheries and oceans in terms of the joint secretariat.

I could take a stab at the ballpark figures. Of the $1.5 billion, we at Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard have absolutely the lion's share of that. I would say it's in the neighbourhood of $850 million. That's the lion's share of the funding. For Transport Canada, Mario, you can kick me under the table, but I might say it's around $400 million. Environment and Climate Change has a smaller piece, and NRCan has a smaller piece again.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That would probably be $150 million each for Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada.

[Catherine Blewett]

Jeff's jumping in. I must have said something wrong.

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

I'd be happy to jump in on this. We'd be happy to provide a precise breakdown of this. The number that the deputy just quoted is actually the Coast Guard portion. The total Coast Guard-DFO portion is right around $1.1 billion, and the remainder is divided among the other departments, with the lion's share of that going to Transport Canada. We can divide that up precisely.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

You're saying it's $1.1 billion for the department. Thank you.

Could you give me a quick overview of the marine mammal response plan in the event of an oil spill on the Pacific coast? This is with regard to the OPP.

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Response planning is something that is ongoing. We currently have a response plan in place with the City of Vancouver that you may have heard of, the greater Vancouver integrated response plan, the GVIRP. We are evolving—if I may put it that way—our process for response planning under the OPP with the RPP—the regional response planning—and it's under that process that a full range of considerations, including marine mammal response would be included in our planning.

Right now, our response planning is very much about containing and removing pollutants from the water, but that's outstanding under the RPP. I don't have a marine mammal response plan in my hand. Through the implementation of the OPP, I will.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Could you send a response to the request for a response plan in writing to us?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

I'm sorry. I am not clear on what you're asking for.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Can you send the plan once it's done in writing?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Once the regional response plan is developed, then it will be a public document.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

What's the timeline on that?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

We're entering public consultations on that in the very near term. It will take some time. I would think we're—

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

In the fall?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Probably later than that. I would think that this time next year might be the earliest. It's multi-party and very broad. It incorporates science, indigenous interests, provincial interests, the transition from on water to on land. It's a very comprehensive approach.

We believe the regional response planning approach is the most comprehensive approach taken for environmental response on water that we're aware of.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernadette Jordan]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson.

That concludes our rounds of questions. I would like to thank our department officials for appearing today and answering the questions. Sylvie Lapointe, Mario Pelletier, Jeffery Hutchinson, Catherine Blewett, Kevin Stringer, Jen O'Donoughue, and Philippe Morel, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate your being here.

We're going to move to the main estimates. I still have to go through the official motions on the main estimates. We'll take two seconds until our departmental officials leave the table.

We have committee business we still have to do, and we have quite a bit. I'll suspend for two minutes if you want to grab a coffee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernadette Jordan]

We are now back in public. We will have to suspend to go in camera for the next session.

We now need to vote on the main estimates.

DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$1,518,591,959

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$586,710,928

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$204,444,700

(Votes 1, 5, and 10 agreed to on division)

Shall I report votes 1, 5, and 10, less the amount voted in the interim estimates, under Fisheries and Oceans to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

On division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernadette Jordan]

That will conclude the main estimates. I will report those back to the House.

We're now going to suspend for 10 seconds to go in camera.