Public Accounts Committee on Feb. 15th, 2024

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

When do we actually start seeing GHG reductions under what looks like a really delayed rollout?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

Likely around 2031 or 2032 will be where the graph dips from above zero to below zero and goes from a source to a sink.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

That's great. Thanks, Commissioner DeMarco.

Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Tremblay, I'll very quickly ask both of you a question, with Mr. Vandergrift going first. Will you be able to achieve the goals as originally set out? If not, when will they be achieved?

[Michael Vandergrift]

We are committed to achieving the goals.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Committing and actually doing are different things. Will we achieve these goals?

[Michael Vandergrift]

We've made a lot of progress, and we're implementing the recommendations. There's a lot more work to do as well.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Can you provide in writing to the committee when you expect to achieve the goals?

I'm out of time, Mr. Tremblay. Would you do the same for us as well, please?

Thanks very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

Is that okay, Mr. Tremblay?

[Jean-François Tremblay]

On the goal with the trees, it would probably be better for NRCan to respond, to be honest.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Okay, well—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

No, it's for Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Tremblay. If they could provide—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I thought you asked for both. I was going to ask Mr. Vandergrift as well.

Can that be done?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Yes, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I just wanted to double-check. I like to ensure that witnesses are aware of the requests coming in.

All right, we'll turn now to Ms. Bradford.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses here who are prepared to testify on this very important report we're dealing with.

We saw devastating wildfires impact families, communities and businesses across Canada this past summer, and experts are warning of a similarly damaging wildfire season this summer. In fact, it could be argued that with the low snow cover, it could be much worse.

Mr. Vandergrift, does the two billion trees program fund tree-planting in deforested areas or areas impacted by wildfires?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Yes, the program does fund tree-planting in areas affected by forest fires. In fact, tree-planting can play an important role in helping to respond to forest fires by increasing diversity of species planted, enhancing resilience in those areas. This is combined with other efforts, such as the FireSmart program, which the Government of Canada is providing support for, as well as assisting communities in trying to reduce fuel load near communities and supporting better resilience to respond to forest fires in the future.

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

That leads to my next question.

Can you explain what other measures NRCan is taking to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Perhaps I can invite Mr. Hargrove to reply to that.

[Glenn Hargrove, Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of Natural Resources]

Yes, certainly. Thank you, Deputy.

There are a number of activities that NRCan undertakes to support the response to wildfire seasons. One critical area is decision support. We work with the provinces and territories to provide fire behaviour predictive modelling and data to help with the on-the-ground response. There's a lot of work we're doing in that area. It's certainly a key area of focus, and planning for that is well under way. We do that in collaboration with other departments, such as Public Safety and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

There are also a number of recent investments the government has made for wildfires. It's around a billion dollars total in recent years for things like equipment and training and FireSmart efforts for communities, as the deputy mentioned. We're working on research and modernizing information systems.

There's also a mission we're working on with Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Space Agency that is called “WildFireSat”. That's aiming to help with monitoring efforts in the longer term. We're also developing a centre of expertise on wildland fire, which will be launched in the near future as well. There are lots of activities going on in that area.

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

The audit period undertaken by the commissioner covered only a portion of the planting period. Can you please share with this committee what progress, if any, has been made with respect to planting during the entire season?

Is that for Mr. Vandergrift? I'm not sure which one of you it's for.

[Michael Vandergrift]

I'll turn it over to, maybe, Mr. Labonté or Mr. Hargrove.

[Monique Frison, Director General, Trade, Economics and Industry Branch, Department of Natural Resources]

Thank you for the question.

As Deputy Minister Vandergrift mentioned in his opening remarks, we have signed additional agreements in principle and contribution agreements with provinces and territories. We've determined a distinctions-based approach for the funding that we'll deliver to indigenous communities, recognizing the individual needs and different priorities of first nation, Métis and Inuit communities across the country. We have also engaged in an agreement with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities so they can support planting in smaller cities that don't necessarily have in-house capacity to do large-scale planting.

We continue to sign agreements with a variety of partners: provinces, territories, NGOs, community associations and cities. Right now, we have about 200 agreements in place or being negotiating to plant about 380 million trees.

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Over what period of time is that?

[Monique Frison]

It's from now until the end of the program, in 2031.

[Valerie Bradford, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Are you on track for your management action plan in response to the CESD audit? What's the progress to date?