Evidence of meeting #64 for Natural Resources in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was grid.
A video is available from Parliament.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
Mr. Chair, at this point we're waiting for decisions on where the partnership council will sit within the machinery of government. I'm happy to provide that information as soon as it's available.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Then the question would be, does this thing have a mandate? What is it?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
I can, again, do my “call a friend” and see, Christina, if you have any additional details you're able to share.
Or otherwise, I'm happy to come back to you, Mr. Angus.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Again, I'm going to go back to talking to our partners in the building trades, IBEW and Unifor, electrical workers, and say, “You've got a seat apparently, but we don't where it is and we don't what it does”.
We've got legislation that's coming any time now. Is it going to be in the legislation to explain to them so that I don't have to explain to them what this body is or what it does?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
As the minister said, between the action plan and the legislation, the details are going to be available.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
And we're expecting that soon, so they should have that figured out by then, right?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
They should have that figured out.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Because I really want to reassure labour that there is going to be a table, and it's going to have some kind of mandate, it's going to do something and it will be someplace.
But it will be something, would that be fair to say?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
That would be fair to say, Mr. Angus. Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
Okay.
Charlie, I have a question for you then, and I'll use your 30 seconds.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
The third round technically has five minutes at the end for the Conservatives and five minutes for the Liberals. The Conservatives have asked for the time.
I do need to allow time to do the vote. By unanimous consent, we could vote the main estimates in one motion.
If you and Mario agree—the Liberals and the Conservatives have agreed to do that—then we could do five minutes, five minutes, the unanimous consent vote in one motion and the travel business, and still be finished by 5:30.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
Okay. Thank you.
Officials, hopefully you haven't jumped off the line yet. If we could keep you for an extra 10 minutes, for five minutes with the Conservatives and five with the Liberals, we will still have you done before 5:30.
I think, Todd, you're going to be first, so we'll go to you for your five minutes.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Sorry, Mr. Chair, but Charlie still has 30 seconds, does he not?
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
I gave up 30 seconds so you could get five minutes. Man, do I feel like a chump.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
It's the same for you, Todd, for your five minutes.
If anybody doesn't want to use their full five minutes, we can put that in the bank as well.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To our officials, thank you for being here.
I'm new to this committee, but not new to the issues of wildfires. As you know, in 2017-18 my region, and indeed our province of British Columbia, suffered some of the worst wildfires in the history of our country. Indeed, we are burning now, as the northeast of British Columbia is, and Alberta is as well.
In 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau, as well as members of the Liberal Party from British Columbia, stood and made a pledge of $500 million to train 1,000 more firefighters, including the use and purchase of Canadian firefighting equipment.
Can you tell me how many firefighters have been trained and how much of that money has been spent? I've looked in the estimates for 2021 expenditures and 2022 expenditures and there's nothing there. Do we know how many firefighters have been trained?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources
I'm going to ask Monique Frison, from the Canadian Forest Service, to get on the line just so we can get you the exact information.
Monique Frison Director General, Trade, Economics and Industry Branch, Department of Natural Resources
Hello.
So far, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre received $5 million to enhance co-operation among jurisdictions so they can help each other during the time of the wildland fire. About $6 million has gone to Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. to purchase equipment, and we'll have purchases for the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nova Scotia as well. Of the 1,000 firefighters that we said last fiscal year would be trained, about 300 of those have been trained so far.
As we're going along in a season like this, as the minister said earlier, the Canadian Forest Service continues to provide support when it comes to wildland fire monitoring and modelling.
