Evidence of meeting #7 for Natural Resources in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was carbon.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Thank you very much.
Basically, though, there's no data we can rely on to help us with the unmanaged forest side.
2:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Forestry Initiative
That's right. I agree that you need to have as much data as possible to have the fullest plan in terms of the path forward.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Yes, absolutely.
I'll switch over to CPAWS for a minute.
For this study, I think it's possible for us to look for common ground between economic and environmental interests. We've heard from industry that there is some concern out there about foreign competitors and investments, such as from China or the U.S., capturing the market. Some years ago, there were similar concerns raised by environmental groups about the China Investment Corporation getting involved with private forests in B.C.
Do you think we should be concerned about foreign investments or influences working against our national interests, either environmentally or economically?
2:40 p.m.
Director, National Forest Program, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
That's not really my area of expertise. I'm not sure I can answer that with a lot of knowledge, quite honestly.
I'll leave it at that. Thank you.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I mean, I'm kind of concerned that in the pursuit of ensuring that our parks and conservation efforts are well funded, we might be accepting money from groups that are committed to ensuring that Canadian industry is stopped in order to prop up foreign interests. Is that not a concern you would have?
2:40 p.m.
Director, National Forest Program, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
No, I'm sorry. I had to switch over to my phone because my Internet died and I don't fully understand how it works.
I think that Canadians are interested in having protected areas, and Canadians support that, including financially, so no, I'm not particularly concerned that that is somehow driving an agenda from foreign investors.
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
December 4th, 2020 / 2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvonne Jones Liberal Labrador, NL
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I thank all of our guests today for their very informative presentations and obviously very interesting discussions.
I have a couple of questions. One is with regard to the BioPreferred labelling system. What does it really mean for a product to have a preferred mark like that? Do you think that is something that Canada should be doing in trying to get a better understanding of where you're going?
2:45 p.m.
Microbiologist and Agronomist, Consortium de recherche et innovations en bioprocédés industriels au Québec
Thank you, Madam.
BioPreferred certification in the United States is a good example of the way in which we can inform consumers or users of their choices between, for example, a product from classical petrochemistry, that uses nonrenewable material, and an equivalent product made from biobased material, renewable material. This simply lets consumers know that those products are much more sustainable, practical and safe in environmental terms.
Canada could well adopt similar measures in a Canadian context with Canadian goals. We are capable of doing that. We are just as good as other countries. We could have a certification that would be specific to our products. Those products could come from both forest biomass and agricultural biomass. Lignocellulosic compounds, whether they are from agriculture or forestry, are the same or similar in composition.
In our view, a certification like that would convince companies to conduct research and development and to establish production processes. At the end of the day, consumers would benefit, for all the reasons I mentioned.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvonne Jones Liberal Labrador, NL
Thank you. That certainly provides a lot more clarity.
Would you have pursued this before within the Government of Canada to try to have this kind of labelling, or would this be a relatively new thing for the industry to be asking at this stage?
2:45 p.m.
Microbiologist and Agronomist, Consortium de recherche et innovations en bioprocédés industriels au Québec
This is a very good question.
I'm not sure if other companies or other sectors have applied or have lobbied the government for a similar accreditation. Certainly some companies that I'm aware of have filed BioPreferred products in the U.S. for their own products as well, but I'm not sure if it has been done systematically throughout Canada or whether the government has been lobbied.
We favour this idea. We would like to put this forward. We think it's an easy way to get those products accepted by consumers and by the regulatory authorities as well. If it's not being done, we certainly would like to promote it.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvonne Jones Liberal Labrador, NL
Do you see it as being able to bring value to the product in the export market as well?
2:45 p.m.
Microbiologist and Agronomist, Consortium de recherche et innovations en bioprocédés industriels au Québec
Certainly. If you look at the different certifications throughout the world, many industries and many products are certified. You have a certification for cosmetics, for industrial products. Particularly if you're aimed at the European market, that would give you a tremendous lever for those markets, absolutely.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvonne Jones Liberal Labrador, NL
That's great.
Mr. Chair, if I have a few more minutes, I do have another question.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Yvonne Jones Liberal Labrador, NL
Okay. Maybe I'll have to skip it.
Thank you all for your presentations. It's really fascinating to see the work that's ongoing within the forestry sector in Canada. I think the exposure to the product development that you have ongoing is probably not as.... Not as many Canadians are aware of it as maybe we should be. I know that I have been learning a lot in these sessions, so thank you very much.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thank you, Ms. Jones.
Mr. Simard, I'll go to you for two and a half minutes. I'll apologize in advance.
2:50 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Could you give me some specific examples of what has been done in recent years by CRIBIQ on bioproducts, and by Carbone boréal?
2:50 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Consortium de recherche et innovations en bioprocédés industriels au Québec
Speaking for CRIBIQ, the best example of the projects we have funded is a biotechnology company called Bosk Bioproducts. The company is located near Quebec City. It teamed up with a paper mill in the Outaouais that had residue that could be reused, specifically its bacteria.
So a research centre, a biotechnology company and a paper mill teamed up and, today, we are just at the point of reusing industrial residue by fermentation, and on a commercial scale. We are using technological tools to develop very high-quality bio-plastics that can be used in packaging, especially food packaging. These materials are the result of cutting-edge technology.
We have funded a number of other projects especially with paper mills. The result has been the development of high-quality bioproducts for use in aviation or in other industries, like cosmetics.
2:50 p.m.
Professor, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Carbone boréal
As for Carbone boréal, because of the carbon credits we have generated by planting trees, the carbon offsetting program has allowed us to fund bursaries at masters and postdoctoral levels for about fifteen students who have gone through the entire process. In addition, we have gathered more than $700,000 for future interests. We also have published 20 or so scientific articles and we have four or five more in preparation.
The money collected by Carbone boréal from offsets associated with, as an example, the Bloc Québécois' election campaign—not to mention any names—is put into funds from which we award bursaries to students. For us, that's a great source of pride.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve.
Mr. Cannings, we'll go over to you for your final two and a half minutes.