Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #3 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was loans.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #3 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was loans.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Madam Block, we are into our second round. You have five minutes, please.
9:25 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the minister and our departmental officials for joining us today as we study the estimates.
I want to pick up on some of the questioning that was happening around vote 40. I'm new on the committee, although I did sit on a committee about a decade ago. I just want to highlight that the PBO was very critical of vote 40 when it was brought in. In fact, he said that what the public should be worried about is the government introducing that new TB vote 40 to speed up the implementation of budget measures, and it hasn't achieved that. In fact, it is slower than it was before.
He went on to say that we should have seen a significant change in the speed at which budget measures get implemented. This suggests at least that vote 40 is not that useful in speeding up the implementation of budget measures. I'm imagining that perhaps it is why it was abandoned: it wasn't accomplishing the goal it was established for.
My question is this: What is the process now for the programs that are still waiting for approval under vote 40 in 2018 and the budget implementation votes in 2019?
9:25 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
Thank you, Kelly. Welcome to the committee, too. However, I'm intimidated by the fact that you've been around for these many years. I'll try to be up to the standards and expectations.
Vote 40 was used in the first year of the pilot project. It led to greater speed, greater transparency and greater connectivity between the budget process and the supplementary and main estimates process. Now, parliamentarians rightly raised the issue and provided advice on how that process and that pilot project could be improved. The committee did its job and advised that vote 40 might not be the best way to reconcile these two processes. The next year, the second year of the pilot project, led to the use of another tool—which was not vote 40—to better reconcile, by means of more-detailed ministerial-level information, the accrual and cash processes involved.
We have learned from the pilot project. Because of the important work of the committee, we have learned, in fact, more quickly than if we'd had to wait until the end of the pilot project.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Right. I'll reput my question so that I might get a more accurate answer. I did ask what the process is now for the programs that are still waiting for approval under vote 40 in 2018 and the budget implementation votes in 2019. Perhaps I'm making an assumption. I assume that there are programs still there. Will they continue to be approved, or are they effectively dead with the pilot project?
9:30 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
I'll perhaps make it more clear what the pilot project involved in terms of the use of vote 40. Vote 40 has now expired. The details of the use of vote 40 items are available online. You have the right and the responsibility to find out about them.
We have now moved to the system that existed before the pilot project, having learned, however, from the pilot project, and in the meantime having increased significantly the transparency of the estimates and budget processes.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Is it fair, then, to say that any programs that hadn't been completed under vote 40, any money that had been allocated for programs under vote 40 in 2018, were abandoned, that they actually weren't funded and that they died with the pilot project?
9:30 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
As you would expect, given your long service to Canada and to Parliament in particular, these estimates and expenditures are revised and reviewed every year. There are natural changes to the levels of expenditures that departments in particular would receive and expect. You would find out about the precise nature of the departments' expenditures by looking at, for instance, GC InfoBase and the results in the report that I tabled yesterday.
I wouldn't want to claim that every dollar planned in a particular year has been spent in that particular year. There are natural reporting mechanisms that also exist for dollars to be spent and invested efficiently.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Mr. Kusmierczyk, I understand that you are going to be splitting time with Mr. Weiler.
You have about two and a half minutes, sir.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much, President Duclos, for being here with us today to share your insights and expertise. I'm very appreciative of your time.
I'm going to ask you a question about an issue that is very important to Canadians and also very important to the residents of my constituency of Windsor—Tecumseh: climate change and the reduction of GHG emissions.
The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy estimated that, in terms of the effects of climate change, the cost to Canada on an annual basis by 2020 will be about $5 billion. The PBO also estimated that the financial costs of natural disasters on their own, of weather events, will be about $900 million per year.
In the constituency of Windsor—Tecumseh, I can tell you that we had two catastrophic floods in 2016 and 2017 that basically caused around $300 million of insurable damages, and about 6,000 homes were affected. How does the Treasury Board Secretariat contribute to our government's effort to lower emissions per the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change that was introduced in our first mandate?
9:30 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
Thank you, Irek, and welcome to the committee and to Parliament, and thank you for your leadership.
Now, here are three brief things.
First, it's absolutely essential to be mindful of the anxiety that Canadians feel toward the effects of climate change and of course the impacts that these effects have on their lives.
Second, we have a broad set of measures, including pollution pricing, that are setting Canada on a more sustainable path and greater economic growth, and making life more affordable through pollution pricing in particular. In the supplementary estimates, there are a number of expenditures that relate to carbon pricing. There is $109 million for the Department of the Environment to implement the climate action incentive fund, which, as you well know but it deserves to be repeated, puts more money in the pockets of the large majority of households in Canada than the price on pollution imposes. That's not only benefiting the majority of households, but it also reduces poverty. It helps the more vulnerable Canadians do well and live more fully in Canada.
The last thing I wanted to say is that the Government of Canada also needs to be a leader. Since 2005, the greenhouse gas emissions of the Government of Canada have been reduced by a third. Our Paris target is 30% between 2005 and 2030. In the federal government we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than that, by a third, and we're only in 2020. Therefore, we have the ambition of getting to a lower level of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 than what we announced in the Paris Agreement.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Mr. Weiler, your colleague took a little bit of your time. You've got just slightly over a minute left.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be quick here.
I just want to thank, as well, the hon. President of the Treasury Board for coming to join our committee today.
The question I have is something of major interest in my riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, as well as throughout western Canada. It's related to the Department of Western Economic Diversification requesting $0.4 million to promote access to public transportation following Greyhound Canada's 2018 service reductions. This has created a big gap in western Canada for inter-regional transportation.
I'm wondering what type of promotional activities the department is going to do with this funding and what type of transportation options are going to be available in areas that were once served by Greyhound Canada.
9:35 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
That's long enough to say how proud and pleased we are to have you with us, and welcome to the committee.
Second, thank you so much for insisting on public transportation. It's true that in my city we are investing in Quebec City the largest investments ever made in the history of Canada for the benefit of Quebec City. I understand that you want to have more details on how the Treasury Board and our investments will benefit your riding and your constituents. I'll make sure you get those details.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
We'll go now to our final rounds for two and a half minutes each.
Madame Vignola.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Mr. Duclos, I have noticed in the budget that just over 33,000 students debts would be written off and that there was a $230-million increase for loans and another $125-million increase for grants, or vice versa. Since you are familiar with my party, my question will not surprise you.
Among those 33,000 written off debts and those millions of dollars provided for loans and grants, what proportion will go to Quebec?
9:35 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
This is very important because, as we know very well, not only students in Canada are experiencing a difficult economic situation that is often very dire, but we need them and their investments in their human capital to continue to grow the economy while growing the middle class.
In Quebec, we are very aware of that and have a loans and grants program that is separate from the Canadian government's program. Here is how it works. The Canadian government announces, as in this case, substantial investments to improve students' quality of life and their investments in their human capital. Part of that budget is allocated to the Government of Quebec, and we expect it to reinvest it in programs for students.
For your information, Mrs. Vignola, our student associations in Quebec also need to know how students in Quebec will be supported through those federal investments. We know that we can count on the Quebec government to provide that response because we know that it is even more important to take care of our students in Quebec.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
9:35 a.m.
President of the Treasury Board
I could give you a fairly vague answer, but you have the right to know the exact amount. So I will ask my colleagues who are here to provide it to you. They will tell you what the proportion is, but they will also share with you the mechanisms through which that money is transferred to the Government of Quebec, which is just as important.
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you.
In the case of some transfers, there was nothing in 2017-18, but votes suddenly reached several million dollars, even several billion dollars in some cases. I would like to know what explains the fact that, for 2017-18, there are small points in the tables, while there are amounts of several million dollars for 2020.
Is it because something new was created? Can you explain it to us?
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
That is an excellent question, but unfortunately we're out of time.
I would suggest, Minister, that if there are any questions posed by my colleagues around the table during your appearance here, for which you do not have time to give an adequate and thorough answer, please supply answers to those questions, through the clerk, to the respondents.
Mr. Green, you have the final two and a half minutes.
9:40 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much, sir.
Earlier in the line of questioning, it was quite rightly stated by Mr. Purves that it is inappropriate for Parliament to approve funds with inappropriate information about the financial situation of the government. Yet, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer stated that typically departmental results reports are tabled in Parliament in the fall of the subsequent fiscal year. However, as of the tabling of this final supplementary estimate, we've yet to receive those reports.
When will we be able to receive those reports, and will we receive them in advance of the votes?