Science and Research Committee on May 21st, 2024

[Richard Boudreault]

Yes, I was chairing the board.

It's important to note that there was a competition between different cities to host CHARS, which was a project of the Conservatives. We corralled the resources there because it covered a segment of the country that is pretty good.... We also had as a view to fuse with the polar shelf and provide all these services. However, at this point, that has not occurred. It was one of the strategic points that would allow us to have a western and eastern type of facility for people.

There are a lot of very small, impoverished research centres that—

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

I'm sorry to interrupt, but we are running out of time.

Is there a document you could provide the clerk about any input from your group, which studied this, for our study?

[Richard Boudreault]

I do not know, but I will look for it.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Okay, thank you.

[Richard Boudreault]

I can even write something if you want.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

That would be brilliant. Thank you.

Dr. Quinton, very briefly, you mentioned wildfires, which have already started, and their impact on the Arctic.

We have only 10 seconds.

[William Quinton]

They are impactful, with unknown trajectories and unknown territory. This is off the charts in recent experience over the period of record.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you very much to all of you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you.

We will now turn to MP Blanchette-Joncas for two and a half minutes.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Boudreault, we spoke earlier about the Polar Continental Shelf Program. The chief scientific adviser, Ms. Mona Nemer, has published a report on this program and on the growth of northern research.

In the conclusion of the report, she states, among other things, that a more strategic and coordinated effort is needed to support scientific research in the North by strengthening scientific capacity and the role of local communities, increasing overall logistical support for scientific research, and channelling this increase on the basis of a shared long-term vision and well-established priorities. She also points to the need to provide the specialized support capacity required by new technologies. All these needs are well known.

To your knowledge, what has the federal government done, concretely, since the tabling of this report, to take action and follow the recommendations of its chief scientist?

[Richard Boudreault]

One of these recommendations is that structural changes must be made. Yet these structural changes have not been made.

For example, the Canadian High Arctic Research Station is located in the western Canadian Arctic. We need one in the east. On the other hand, it should be much larger and be able to fund smaller research centres and support their logistics, which is not being done at present. This station receives a lot of people from abroad to do research, but it has very few systems to be able to do the same thing as the Polar Continental Shelf Program. The station works with the Polar Continental Shelf Program, but this merger is necessary. We need to integrate a set of research centres that belong to universities and make a network that would distribute research in the north.

Once again, we would need four times as many researchers to do the same things as our Arctic neighbours.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Boudreault, we know the tenor of the situation, we know the issues and the needs, but I'd like you to tell us about the consequences as well. We're not perfect, we're making progress, but it seems to be at a snail's pace.

What will be the consequences if we don't act quickly to further support northern research?

[Richard Boudreault]

There will be a huge backlog compared to other countries around the North Pole. In addition, there will be a depopulation of the north, since people in the north would want to leave their region to go south, which would pose a huge structural problem in terms of northern sovereignty, because we have to have resources there.

Choosing not to know what's going on is like putting a blindfold on your eyes and plugs in your ears, and hoping that things will be okay. Yet, according to the information we currently have, they won't.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

I'm sorry, but that's our time.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Madam Chair, I would appreciate a written response from Mr. Boudreault if he would like to share any additional information.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Perfect.

We'll now turn to MP Cannings for two and a half minutes.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

I'm going to continue with Dr. Boudreault.

You mentioned in your opening remarks that there were five tipping points in the Arctic. I had down polar ice melting, permafrost, methane, boreal forest fires and Atlantic circulation. Did I miss one?

[Richard Boudreault]

You have the dwindling of polar ice, which is the most important tipping point because it influences the rest of the planet. There's the permafrost, which is emitting methane, and fires in the boreal forests. One of the big factors here is that they could zip throughout Canada. We've seen only the start-up of the fires. There's also the Atlantic Gulf Stream, which regulates temperature; the freezing of the Northwest Passage; and the polar vortex extending over the north and influencing, in a catastrophic way, weather in the south. We've seen that in the last three or four years, as well as the rising temperature of the ocean. These are factors from these tipping points.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

You also mentioned earlier that the permafrost methane emissions were one of the most important factors.

[Richard Boudreault]

Yes.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I've seen that in my brief trips to the north. I've been to Herschel Island, for instance. How are we doing with that monitoring? When you emit methane, as you know, it's a very powerful greenhouse gas. How is Canada doing in methane monitoring in general and in the Arctic in particular?

[Richard Boudreault]

I would say poorly. We're not doing great. That is likely to be a big factor in global climate change. As a matter of fact, it's a big factor in the crisis, and we have very little information about it.

When the permafrost melts, it turns into water. Some of the methane goes into the ocean or the rivers and is absorbed, and some of it goes into the atmosphere. This is a very powerful material, and it's going to be driving the climate up there. We need to be able to measure it better. There are some satellite-based systems that exist and an optical-based system that exists, but we have not spread them over Canada.

It will be important that we have an understanding of these CH4 emissions, or methane, for our own survival. It's an existential problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you. That's our time.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

We'll now turn to the Conservatives. I'm not sure who's taking this for five minutes.

Oh. We are at the time. I'm sorry.