Natural Resources Committee on May 16th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We're out of time on that.

Thank you.

Our next question goes to Mrs. Stubbs for five minutes.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thanks, Chair.

Minister, I wanted to advise you that the project you referred to earlier in Saskatchewan run by Canada's only rare earths mining company was cancelled about three weeks ago. They paused all their work there, so there really is no conclusion other than after eight years and $3.8 billion, your spending in total on your so-called critical minerals and metals strategy is actually resulting in expensive round table meetings. You're utterly failing to capture the production, the value chains, the supply chains and the exporting of critical minerals that are so important to reach your own stated public policy goals and to reduce global dependence on hostile and despotic regimes.

Moving on to LNG, the truth is, of course, this. After eight years of your government, since 2015, 13 west coast, three east coast and two Quebec LNG export terminals have been proposed. You've approved four, but the only one.... One of those approvals, which is under construction, had already been approved by the former Conservative government.

Zero were built in Canada.

From Pacific NorthWest LNG to Énergie Saguenay, Kitimat LNG and Pieridae Energy, which wants to build one on the east coast.... The proponents of all 15 cancelled or delayed LNG projects under your government in Canada, many of which are now focused instead on other countries, cite delays and long regulatory timelines and say that these decisions are really driven by regulatory issues.

Now, in the same time—in case you try to claim this is a worldwide challenge—the U.S. constructed seven LNG terminals. They've approved 20 more. They're on track to build five more this year.

Germany asked for LNG from Canada, but the Prime Minister said—of course we'll all remember—there is no business case. That is according to him, not the rest of the world. Germany then built an import facility in 194 days, and had to go to Saudi Arabia and cut a deal with Qatar for supply.

Even though Canada is the sixth largest natural gas producer in the world, Mexico is now on track to become the fourth largest LNG exporter in the world, beating Canada with eight proposed terminals. The first one will be ready in August.

The advocates for major global investors in Canada say this is the problem and that the the biggest issue they've had has been “the regulatory delay and regulatory hurdles, as well as pipeline construction and opposition to pipelines."

Your LNG failures cost Canada $108 billion in government revenue, $500 billion in new investment and 100,000 good-paying Canadian jobs, while you ceded the global market to Americans and to dictators and hostile regimes with lower environmental and human rights standards. Meanwhile, you failed to provide our allies with the LNG they want and need from Canada.

You have stated, “the private sector should be putting up the money for these projects”—with which Conservatives totally agree, including, by the way, on TMX, which should have been producing five years ago and not cost a single taxpayer cent. However, it's clear your own government's red tape is driving away investment and opportunities for Canada.

On what date will you accelerate approvals for LNG projects, just like the Deputy Prime Minister claims you guys want to do?

On what date will Canada export LNG to our free and democratic allies around the world, and provide liquefied natural gas from one end of the country to the other for Canada's own self-sufficiency and security?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Thank you for the series of statements.

What I would say to start is—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

They were facts.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

—you are just wrong about mining. If you look at the total value of Canadian mineral production in 2021, it has tripled since 2002. It's actually up 20% in 2021 over the year before.

We are seeing enormous growth with respect to the work that's being done critical minerals—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

It's not true for the critical minerals on your own list.

Can you answer the questions about LNG?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

In terms of LNG, I would say that one of the challenges we had in this country was the gutting of CEAA 2012, or the gutting of the environmental assessment processes by the Harper government, which ruined the ability to achieve social licence because nobody trusted that environmental issues were being addressed.

We have three plants right now that are under development. One is the LNG Canada facility. The second is the Woodfibre facility. The third one is an indigenous-led one, Cedar LNG, which went through the new process in less than three years.

We have made significant progress while ensuring that we are doing this in a manner that is consistent with Canada's climate obligations. I would tell you, with respect to the Repsol project in particular...I would encourage you to call the Repsol folks, because what you've just said is not correct.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Minister, your red tape has also killed the only title project in Canada for exactly the same reason. The problem is domestic. It's your own government.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

That's the five minutes. Mrs. Stubbs, your time is up.

We're now moving over to Mr. Chahal for five minutes.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for joining us today.

In June 2020, northeast Calgary was hit with a massive hail storm that resulted in an estimated $1.3 billion in insurable damages. We know that extreme weather events are driven by climate change and they have the potential to devastate communities. Today, we are seeing another manifestation of climate change with the wildfires in Alberta and a province-wide state of emergency that is forcing thousands to leave their homes.

Minister, can you please tell this committee how the climate change adaptation program will help Canadian cities and communities plan and implement adaptation actions to help reduce the risks of climate change?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Thank you very much for the question.

Firstly, let me just reiterate that my thoughts go out to all of those in Alberta who have been evacuated from their homes or impacted by the wildfires. I would also like to thank the first responders and Canadians from across the country who are coming together to support Albertans in their time of need. As the Prime Minister reiterated yesterday, in Alberta we are here for you and we are going to ensure that you get the support you need, working in collaboration with, of course, your provincial and municipal authorities.

Right now, my department is assisting with monitoring and helping to inform planning and supply of resources, and facilitating fire perimeter mapping. NRCan continues to assess its capabilities to support the potential or direct impact on critical infrastructure.

As you may have noted, and to your question in particular, there are about $46 million in investments in the main estimates to strengthen capabilities in wildlife management, including bolstering provincial and territorial agency wildland firefighting equipment, and strengthening the role of indigenous participation in fire management through community-based training and the establishment of an indigenous fire stewardship lab.

A number of agreements have already been signed with provinces, including Alberta, with indigenous communities and organizations to begin that training and support the acquisition of new wildfire-fighting equipment.

As it is related to the national adaptation strategy and how it will help communities adapt to the risk of climate change, the strategy is providing up to $530 million to expand the green municipal fund to support community-based adaptation initiatives. It is enhancing community prevention and mitigation activities, supporting innovation and wildfire knowledge and research, and establishing a centre of excellence for wildland fire innovation and resilience.

Again, I would just say that my thoughts are certainly with those who are impacted by the fires in Alberta. We are here to help.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you for that in-depth answer, Minister.

Minister, people living in my riding are always looking for opportunities to save money in an increasingly expensive world. One of the best ways to do that is to invest in making our homes more energy efficient and resilient.

Minister, can you please tell us about the measures our Liberal government is taking to help Canadians retrofit their homes to be greener and, in the long run, more affordable?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Thanks for the question.

Certainly significantly reducing energy use in our buildings and in our homes not only makes home heating more affordable, it creates good bang for local jobs and it lowers greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we introduced the Canada greener homes grant—so Canadians can take climate action at home and save on energy. Through this program, Canadians are eligible for up to $5,000 towards the cost of home retrofits like solar panels, better windows or heat pumps.

We also announced the oil to heat pump affordability grant last November as a new stream under the already very popular Canada greener homes initiative. This grant is self-explanatory. It allows homeowners to swap out their oil furnaces for heat pumps. Through this initiative, families across the country are able to save thousands of dollars on their annual heating bills.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister, how is the government investing in growing the generation capacity that we need for a clean, reliable and affordable grid of the future?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Building a clean Canadian power grid at the scale and the pace that is necessary is an enormous undertaking. It is a nation-building project that is as great in terms of scale and importance as any that we have undertaken in our history.

We are all very proud that 83% of our grid right now comes from zero-emission sources. We need, though, a much bigger and ultimately 100% clean grid. We need to double or more the electricity generation capacity in this country by 2050.

A clean electricity grid is an enormous economic advantage for Canada as our largest trading partners increasingly look to forge trade relationships that favour low-carbon exports and imports like low-carbon steel and low-carbon aluminum. While it isn't yet clear, I think, to the Conservative Party, the rest of the world knows a clean, reliable and affordable electricity grid is key to building a strong, clean economy. It's necessary to position our country for opportunity in the centuries ahead.

We are focused on doing the work that is necessary to seize this generational opportunity. This is a race that we cannot afford to lose.

In budget 2023, we announced over $40 billion for the development of a clean grid, including measures like the clean electricity investment tax credit to help provinces and territories build out the grid they need, as well as the CCUS investment tax credit and the clean hydrogen tax credit.

In budget 2023, we also had $3 billion to recapitalize the fund we used for renewable energy projects and for a new smart grid program. We announced the Canada Infrastructure Bank will invest at least $10 billion through its clean power priority area.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Minister, we're out of time there. Thank you. We appreciate it.

We'll go to Monsieur Simard next for his two and a half minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you.

Minister, you just mentioned green aluminum. That takes us to low-carbon footprint products, so I find that very interesting. But one of the most relevant low-carbon industries is forestry. A tree is a carbon sink. A forest is a carbon sink, if you know how to use it well.

Unfortunately, the forestry sector is facing a perfect storm, especially in Quebec, where disproportionate U.S. tariffs are being applied to producers. To give you an order of magnitude, right now, for Resolute Forest Products, we're talking about $583 million that is in trust in the United States. This is money that the company cannot invest in its facilities. For a company like Arbec in Lac-Saint-Jean, this represents a loss of $200 million. The federal government, unfortunately, does not have a support program for these companies unless they are technically bankrupt.

If I make the comparison to other natural resource sectors that you have talked about—I am thinking of the clean hydrogen investment tax credit and the support that you are providing to the oil and gas sectors, among others—I am sure you would agree with me that the forestry sector is the poor relation of the natural resource sector.

My question is quite simple: do you have a real strategy to develop the future of the forest sector, which is bioproducts and high-value-added forest sector products?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Thank you for the question.

First of all, I completely agree with you on the tariffs imposed by the United States. It is a challenge and we need to work together with the provinces, the territories and, of course, the Government of Quebec. I was with the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Forests last week and we discussed this topic.

Of course, we need to invest in the development of high-value products. In the 2023 budget, we promised to invest almost $400 billion.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Thank you. We're out of time on that.

We'll go to Mr. Angus for his two and a half minutes.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

Three days ago, Lana Payne, the head of Unifor, called on this government not to gamble with the 2,500 jobs at Stellantis in Windsor. This plant is essential. The Chrysler workers have been the backbone of the Windsor economy. The Stellantis EV plant is key for us to actually have a clean-tech economy, and yet Stellantis is accusing the government of not delivering on the promises that it made on the investments. They've suspended production.

What's it going to take to get the federal government to come back to the table, make sure those jobs are secure, get the production up and running, and not leave workers in Windsor holding the bag?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Just as you are, I am very focused on working to ensure that the Stellantis project moves ahead. Of course, Minister Champagne is the lead minister on that.

But it is not just Stellantis and the federal government. It is also the Province of Ontario. It is important that the Province of Ontario and Premier Ford are participants financially in the work that is being done. It is not solely the responsibility of the federal government. I think the province increasingly understands that. We are working towards resolution of this, but it does need to include participation by Ontario.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

It's not just the issue down in the auto belt. My region of Timmins—James Bay is base metal country. We need markets to be able to expand to. We have mines coming on stream now.

The leader of the Conservative Party was in my riding recently and was making fun about EV cars. I don't know what's so funny about cars that are going to be using all the products our miners produce.

They want to know, in mining country and in auto country, that this government has their back, that they are going to continue the kinds of investments that we've seen in Volkswagen, that they're not going to blow Stellantis, and that they will make Ontario a centre for EV battery production.

What commitments will this government make to make sure that happens?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

First of all, I would agree with you that it's very unfortunate that the leader of the Conservative Party makes fun of electric vehicles. I think it belies the lack of belief in climate change and the lack of any plan from an economic perspective to benefit from the changes that are going to be coming. That's very disappointing.

What I would say is that we are fundamentally committed to ensuring that we are building end-to-end supply chains. That very much includes the processing of those minerals and battery manufacturing and automotive manufacturing. We've made that statement in a number of the announcements that have been made prior to the Volkswagen announcement. We made it again with the Volkswagen announcement, and I think you can anticipate that we will continue to make that a focus.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Thank you.

We're out of time on this one.

Now, we are going to Mr. McLean, who will have five minutes for his questions.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. It's great to see you, Minister.

Minister, I'm disappointed that you chose not to be here in person today. I'll tell you that right now.

I have noticed, Minister, that as you've learned this portfolio, your narrative has changed from when you were the Minister of the Environment. I say that with great respect because I think that the learning you've done in this sector has been profound.

I'm going to ask you a question, because I'll follow along with my colleague where she led on the critical minerals strategy. You're a big advocate of critical minerals. Can you tell me what you think the critical minerals will contribute to the Canadian economy as a number in the next five years, per year?