Government Operations Committee on Nov. 30th, 2020

[Kathleen Owens]

I was saying that it's within the minister's authority to implement the program and sign the contribution agreement, so the department would have had to do the official languages assessment.

Your question is best directed at them with regard to what official languages assessment they did in that case.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Okay.

We have an ATIP request that came back, stating that an official languages assessment was not done. Is that correct?

[Kathleen Owens]

I have no line of sight on what the department did.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

I have an ATIP that says that one was not done, so here we have Treasury Board ignoring the rules.

I find it quite shameful that a unilingual MP from Edmonton is the one standing up for French language rights when you have the minister from Quebec City itself refusing to follow his own rules.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have point of order.

If the member actually knew and spoke with the official languages community, he would understand that they are actually asking the Treasury Board to take over, Mr. Chair.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

This is not a point of order, Mr. Chair.

Would you rule on it, please, before he continues lecturing?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

They're actually asking the Treasury Board to take over that, but the Official Languages Act has not yet been presented.

I just want to clarify that point.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Mr. Drouin, order. Thank you.

We have now come to the end of Mr. McCauley's time.

Now we'll go—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Thanks.

Mr. Chair, I just have a point of order.

Could we please—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Yes, Mr. Green.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Robert....

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, with all due respect to Mr. Drouin, Mr. Drouin's role on this committee, as I understand it, is not to answer on behalf of the honourable minister.

I believe, if you find it, you will find that he took the tail end of Mr. McCauley's intervention in a way that I think lacks courtesy, quite frankly.

Mr. Duclos is a learned man and can answer for himself, and to run the clock out on an intervention is not a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you. That's debate.

Mr. Kusmierczyk, you have—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order as well, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Mr. McCauley, yes.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

We've seen this continue from my colleagues across the way. When they don't like questioning, they interrupt with a point of order.

I would appreciate it if the chair could immediately act on that point of order to stop them from monologuing out our time. Also, traditionally, when there is a point of order, the person who was speaking originally has an opportunity to address that point of order.

I have nothing further to say, but I would appreciate the chair's stopping this process of having the Liberals monologue out our time on wasteful points of order that are nonsensical and mostly debate.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. McCauley.

For the record, when points of order are called, I do stop the clock so that you can get the complete time you have and so that the time is not wasted.

I would ask that all members, when they are looking at a point of order, do so on an issue that is truly a point of order.

Thank you.

With that said, Mr. Kusmierczyk, you have five minutes.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for again appearing before our committee. It's always terrific to see you here. I very much appreciate your succinct and comprehensive answers as well, so thank you very much for that.

Minister, last week you announced the publication of the updated greening government strategy, which sets new targets for net-zero, green and climate-resilient government operations.

The supplementary estimates (B) include $1.8 million for innovative approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in government operations. We know that the Government of Canada owns about 20,000 cars and trucks. I just want to know what the updated strategy includes for the greening of the Government of Canada fleet.

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you, Irek. That's indeed great that you followed that important announcement.

Indeed, the Government of Canada is the largest real-property owner in the country. That's why we want to proceed through our ongoing greening of federally owned assets, including the fleet, to support both the agenda to reduce pollution and also to support our domestic green building capacity.

I am also pleased to say that it addresses, as well, the issue of procurement. We want to make sure that those we procure from get the greatest benefit from that strategy, the benefit, as I said, of investments in a more green and clean environment, but also a larger economy that supports more middle-class Canadians, innovations and all sorts of great social impacts.

On that, I would end by saying that we have a particularly strong agenda around the procurement of either zero-emission vehicles or hybrid vehicles, starting right now with the purchase of a minimum of 75% zero-emission or hybrid vehicles for the Government of Canada fleet.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Minister, thank you very much for that.

As you are aware, in our community here in Windsor-Essex, we proudly build the first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle minivan, the Chrysler Pacifica, at the Windsor assembly plant. How might this program impact a manufacturing plant such as this, or how might this program impact just procurement and the clean technology sector in Canada?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

We are very proud and you should be very proud and very happy to have the Chrysler Pacifica made in Canada, in particular in your area of Canada. That's a great source of strength for your community, your families and your workers. It's also a great source of pride for everyone else in Canada.

We know that the future of our fleet overall, and the government's fleet in particular, is around building and procuring the zero-emission and hybrid cars. It's great that you, as a member of Parliament, are able to support that industry and we look forward to having other regions across Canada also benefit from the economic impacts of investing in a green economy.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

In terms of the $1.8 million that was distributed for innovative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, some of that was shared with the Department of the Environment, Parks Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and so on. A number of departments were selected.

Can you speak to why or how those particular organizations were selected?

[Jean-Yves Duclos]

There are all sorts of important criteria. Obviously, one of the most important criteria is to reduce our impact on the environment. We know that we have only one planet. We know we want to let our children and grandchildren live on a green planet, a planet that will also protect their health and the health of those they love.

It's also about building an economy that is going to be ahead of others, because we know there are billions of dollars of future growth in green tech, in the green production of clean goods and services. It's all about connecting the social, economic and environmental agendas of this government and, we believe, of every future government in the years to come.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

We will now go to Ms. Vignola for two and a half minutes.