Thank you, Sheila.
Mr. Chair, I am pleased to be here today to present my first report. Let me begin with three general observations drawn from the report.
First, the government cannot demonstrate that the money it is spending on some important environmental programs is making a difference. Second, the government is not ensuring that measures to limit harmful air emissions are working. Third, the government has not yet translated sustainable development into concrete practice.
Canadians expect the government to tackle environmental degradation. The government needs to know what works, what doesn't, and why. However, our audit work for this report found gaps in the information needed for Parliament to know how well the programs we examined are working or whether adjustments are needed.
Let me begin with the environmental programming at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. While agriculture generates billions of dollars for Canada's economy, pollution from the farm sector also represents a significant environmental burden. Public concern about its effects is growing. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has spent $370 million to encourage farm practices that protect the environment. However, after five years the department cannot show whether these environmental programs are leading to improvements in environmental quality on the farm.
We also looked at Environment Canada's management of severe weather warnings to Canadians. Severe weather events like tornadoes and blizzards can result in injury or loss of life and cause significant damage. Being able to issue advance warnings accurately allows Canadians to prepare.
We found that the department lacks an effective national approach to verify the timeliness and the accuracy of the more than 10,000 severe weather warnings it issues each year. We also found that the assets of its weather observation network, including radar and surface stations, are not managed adequately to ensure that the network can continue providing the data needed by the department to issue and to verify severe weather warnings.
Environment Canada is considered a world leader in weather services. Each day, it provides a valuable service to Canadians. However, as severe weather events are expected to become even more severe and frequent due to climate change, the weather service faces fundamental challenges and risks to the durability of its systems. We recommend that it adopt a long-term strategy to guide its decisions.
The Report also discussed examples of measures the government has used to reduce air pollution. In order to be credible to Canadians and the rest of the world, the government's programs for reducing air pollution must be able to produce measurable results. In that respect, most of what our audit found was disappointing.
For example, we looked at the regulations on gas pumps aimed at limiting the release of toxic vapours such as benzene when people refuel their cars and trucks. We found that Environment Canada has done almost no enforcement of these regulations. As a result, it does not know whether the regulations are working.
Another example is the clean air and climate change trust fund--$1.5 billion transferred to the provinces to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Although Environment Canada claims that certain reductions will be achieved, the trust fund has no conditions requiring the provinces to report on how they use the money and what was achieved. This will make it difficult for Environment Canada to support its claims that greenhouse gases will be reduced by 16 megatonnes per year between 2008 and 2012 as a result of the fund.
We also looked at the Public Transit Tax Credit, a plan designed to encourage Canadians to switch to public transportation. Although this is a commendable goal, we found that actual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were disappointing relative to the $635 million cost.
Lastly, we looked at a pollution prevention plan, intended to lower the emissions of a harmful toxic substance, acrylonitrile. We found that since that substance was declared toxic almost eight years ago, total emissions have not been lowered but rather have increased three-fold.
My report also includes chapters on environmental petitions and sustainable development strategies.
Mr. Chair, we would be happy to answer any questions committee members may have.