Evidence of meeting #121 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Research Scientist, Climate Processes Section, Climate Research Division, Department of the Environment
You can blame any greenhouse gas-emitting processes, of which diesel is one.
It's not the diesel that's burning in the north that's driving climate change in the north. It's diesel and other carbon-emitting processes that are occurring globally.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Thank you for that.
You talked about icebreakers. How many do we have in this country?
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
In the Canadian Coast Guard—which I'll speak to specifically—we have 15 vessels across the country that are able to deploy to the Arctic.
Typically, though, we deploy our heavy and medium icebreakers to the north, plus one light icebreaker from the western region. Typically, we deploy seven to eight icebreakers to the north for the summer season.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Yes, that's their highway up north.
Seaspan, I believe, is building the super icebreaker, the John G. Diefenbaker. Are they?
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That's correct. Seaspan has our polar icebreaker, the John G. Diefenbaker, as part of their planning in the future, yes.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
I have the story in front of me.
Have we settled on a price for Davie shipyard yet? They were to build three. They got a contract for three. There's no information here about.... Public Services and Procurement Canada has no price tag. Do we have a price tag? I think what's happened here is that a Quebec company that builds ships—they were in deep trouble financially—got the contract for three medium icebreakers.
Do you have a price? No one's put a price on this. We're just trying to put two and two together.
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Those vessels are being converted and modified for our use in Davie shipyard currently. The first one will be ready probably around the end of December.
I do not have the number in front of me, and I would not want to speculate. I think we can probably come back to you later with that number, if it's available.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
I would sure like that.
It's $1.7 billion to rebuild or repurpose a fleet of icebreakers. It's a lot of money, isn't it?
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Icebreakers are very expensive vessels to build, yes.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
But it's their highway, so it should be a priority, wouldn't you think?
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes. I do agree with you, sir. That is exactly why we have put the investment into the fleet renewal plan.
In this case, because icebreakers take so long to build—it doesn't matter which shipyard you go to; they take a long time to design and build—we've made interim investments, including the three icebreakers that are currently at Davie shipyard and investments to modernize our current icebreakers so they are able to last their operational life until we get new icebreakers.
Absolutely, we agree it's a priority. That's why we're investing in it right now.
Conservative
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes, we do.
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Right now, the two vessels that we would consider heavy icebreakers are the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and the CCGS Terry Fox.
Conservative
Director General, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I don't believe Seaspan has put forward a firm date yet. It would come after our current build of science vessels and the joint support ships.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Okay.
About transportation 2030, I just want to say to Mr. Hutton and Ms. Marie-Claude Petit that it's good to have a future plan, and I'm glad we're talking about indigenous people up there in their communities. They want to have the majority of say on their lives and how they're going to move forward up in the northern part of this country.
Where are we on the national trade corridors fund? It's merit-based, so there's an issue, but go for that.
Marie-Claude Petit Director General, Transportation Infrastructure Programs, Department of Transport
Yes, it is a national, merit-based program across the country. It's important to note that we have allocated $400 million for the north, specifically for the three territories, out of the $2-billion budget for NTCF. It's a rather important application, because we understand that when we talk about trade and transportation, if we compare areas like Vancouver and the territory, it does not have the same impact for trade across the country, especially on the international scene, to reach out to other markets.
We understand the specific needs of the territory. That's why we identified some specific funding to respond to those needs in the three territories.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
That ends Kevin's opportunity to ask questions this time.
We move to MP Rachel Blaney.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I thank all of you for being here with us today.
Earlier we heard from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. This question is going to Transport. They talked about all the consultation they were doing. They heard loud and clear from the northern communities that the remedial approach, which seems to be a long-time history in their region, cannot happen anymore. They really need to see long-term investment in infrastructure.
This is a very clear report. One of my questions is, how are they communicating with your department to make sure that there's overlap in how all of the departments are working collaboratively?
Director General, Strategic Policy, Department of Transport
Thanks for your question.
The work going on through CIRNAC is quite horizontal across all departments that have interests or operations in the north. That's no different with Transport Canada. We've been very active and aligned with them in the consultations that have been taking place around the policy framework they're developing.
In addition to that, we've undertaken some of our own consultations as well, to get a better sense of what the needs are in the territories and how to respond to those needs. Between the consultations we've joined on with CIRNAC and our own consultations, we're developing a pretty good picture in terms of the need.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
In the context of transportation, I'm sure the changing realities of the environment with climate change are having fairly significant impacts on the work you do. I think the permafrost.... I've talked to some of the leaders in the Arctic communities, who talk about houses, highways, and runways for airports just shifting, and suddenly they're not usable anymore.
I'm just wondering if you could talk a bit about what you're doing to work with those communities to address those issues as they arise.
Director General, Strategic Policy, Department of Transport
One of the programs that were just renewed was the NTAI program, which is an adaptation initiative for transportation infrastructure that partners with local communities, territorial governments and the academic community to try to figure out what technologies may assist in terms of slowing down the degradation of permafrost and building up the resiliency of transportation infrastructure.
It takes a look at new building methods around roads and runways. We do everything from the research end and working with the academic community to understanding, as I mentioned earlier, what operational practices could change that would help preserve the infrastructure and make it last longer. It's been quite a successful program. It was renewed recently for $6.4 million for the next three years.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
To the Coast Guard, one of the things you said in your report was that you recognize the value of local knowledge. I'm just wondering how you actually implement that in the work you do.