Fisheries Committee on June 3rd, 2026

[Chris d'Entremont, Liberal, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

Does this report say anything about the future of offshore wind in Canada?

[Bernard Vigneault]

No. As I mentioned, very importantly, this is not what we call a science advisory report. It's not a recommendation. It's meant to provide factual data information. That's certainly true for this report, but this format—what we call a technical report for these types of data—has scientific knowledge that is useful and needs to be made available to support further analysis and further inputs by a variety of stakeholders.

[Chris d'Entremont, Liberal, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I now go to Mr. Alexis Deschênes from the Bloc Québécois for six minutes, please.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here. It's good to be with you today.

Mr. Vigneault, who at Fisheries and Oceans Canada decided to produce the report?

[Bernard Vigneault]

For scientific advice and reports, the way we operate is that we receive requests from the ecosystems management sector.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

So it's the ecosystems management sector. Is that correct?

[Bernard Vigneault]

That sector makes the request, and the science sector determines whether we have the information required to produce the technical report requested.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Which of you is part of the ecosystems management sector? Is it Ms. Williams?

[Bernard Vigneault]

Yes.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

All right.

Then I have some questions for you, Ms. Williams.

To recap, I understand that, on July 29, 2025, the Government of Canada, through Natural Resources Canada, announced that the first four offshore wind energy production areas had been designated on Nova Scotia's offshore. It explained that this was a key step to develop an offshore wind industry. It said there would be a first call for bids to develop offshore wind energy later that year. That was in 2025.

Next, I understand that stakeholders were invited to provide feedback on various topics. At that point, you raised your hand and said that Fisheries and Oceans Canada would produce a manuscript report.

Why did you decide that your report would not assess the suitability of these areas for offshore wind energy development or—and this is what really struck me—the risk that such development poses to the marine ecosystem?

[Wendy Williams, Regional Director, Aquatic Ecosystems, Maritimes Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

The answer to that is that we were trying to provide information that was relevant in that time frame to the call for information. The intent of the study was to pull together information that the department already had. It was not really a report to look at the risks of offshore wind vis-à-vis the fishing industry.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Ms. Williams, what the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator wanted was to ask the fishing sector, the industry, the government, the public and other stakeholders to comment on various topics.

Under the Fisheries Act, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for fish conservation and protection and for pollution prevention. Now the government is saying that it will develop offshore wind energy and has designated areas for this purpose, but that it will issue a call for bids later this year.

Why did you restrict which questions could be asked? You asked officials at Fisheries and Oceans Canada to describe marine species, which is relevant, but why didn't you also ask them to examine the risk that offshore wind energy development poses to the marine ecosystem?

Why didn't you ask the people at Fisheries and Oceans Canada to answer that question?

[Wendy Williams]

DFO's role is to provide information in these processes. We had a regional assessment for offshore wind that was done the year before last, and we provided data for that. We provided already existing data for this particular manuscript. We were also expecting that there would be a call for information as a result of.... Perhaps it's not an official call for information, but information from Fisheries and Oceans will be provided for the impact assessment reviews as well. Those impact assessments, as well as the regional assessment, tend to gather that information and look at those risks.

I also want to add that we at DFO promoted the call for information to the fishing industry so that the industry understood it was happening and understood how they could get involved in that. We also provided funding—

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Isn't it partly your responsibility to look into the potential impact of offshore wind energy production on fish?

You mentioned that a regional report was done beforehand. What were its findings?

[Wendy Williams]

I apologize. I meant to say the regional assessment that was administered by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator. That was a process that we provided data into the year before last. The call for information came out after that.

In both cases, DFO provided information. We mainly focused on trying to identify areas of compatibility between what could be areas for offshore wind...and fishing activity.

The manuscript also went into information on species at risk, as well as landings data, as my colleague Bernard mentioned.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

I have read the report, and it does indeed provide a good overview of the various species. However, one crucial question remains: Does installing offshore wind turbines pose a risk to the marine ecosystem?

Didn't you feel you needed to address this question?

[Wendy Williams]

No, that's not the case. It's just that it was not the right time to answer that question. The impact assessments for these projects, which are to come from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, will be opportunities for assessments of risk, and we will provide information at that—

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

However, the government said it wanted to issue an initial call for bids in 2025. I understand that this hasn't been done, but you believe that this is an issue to be addressed later and that there's no need to address it right now.

[Wendy Williams]

Yes, that was not the reason, at that time, to answer that question, because that will come during the impact assessment processes.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I now go to the second round. It's a five-minute round.

I go to Mr. Arnold for the Conservatives.

You have five minutes, please, Mel.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Vigneault, can you tell me if this report is pertaining to a project of DFO?

[Bernard Vigneault]

Yes, this report was produced by our Major Projects Office, which has the task, similar to that report, to provide information in support of major project reviews.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

Is this considered a project of the Province of Nova Scotia or the Government of Canada?