Jonathan Wilkinson

[The Environment, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, economic diversification of all economies to ensure that we are on a growth trajectory as we move toward a lower-carbon future is very important. I will tell members that Canada is extremely well situated to take advantage of the opportunities that will arise. In Alberta, those opportunities certainly involve carbon capture and sequestration, hydrogen, biofuels, critical minerals and a range of other things. We are working with the Government of Alberta, and we will be launching a process over the coming months to work toward economic diversification not just in Alberta, but in every province and territory in this country.

[Natural Resources, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, certainly Canada is moving forward with the development of a critical minerals strategy. As the hon. member knows, we released a list of critical minerals some time ago. I think we will see, as the hon. member indicated, that we intend to resource the critical minerals strategy. It is a critical element of driving the economy going forward, all the way from extraction to processing to battery production and electrical vehicle production. It is certainly part of the growth agenda for this government.

[Natural Resources, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, certainly as everybody in the House should appreciate, we will be going through an energy transition over time. The Bay du Nord project is one of the lowest emission-intensity projects in the world. It is something that will fit within our cap. It will be net zero by 2050.

It is an important step forward, but so is actually making steps towards a transition to renewable energies and hydrogen, something I was very pleased to work on with my counterpart in Newfoundland and to announce this week.

[Natural Resources, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, as the hon. member would expect, ministers of the Crown work with their provincial counterparts across a range of issues all the time.

I was very pleased to work with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to launch changes this week on the offshore energy boards to include renewable energies, offshore wind and hydrogen, and certainly to focus on the transition that will be happening with respect to energy down the road. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been a great partner in that regard.

[The Environment, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, if I were the hon. member, I would not be so dismissive of Canadian technology. Two of the top 100 clean-tech companies in the world this year were Canadian carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

I would ask the hon. member perhaps to spend some time with clean tech in Canada. Canada is a leader in carbon capture. We are a leader in clean tech around the world.

[The Environment, April 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, carbon capture and sequestration is one tool in a broad tool box associated with reducing emissions across the economy, starting with putting a price on pollution and working through regulatory mechanisms and investment mechanisms, as well as tax measures.

We have been clear that there will be a tax credit associated with the implementation of carbon capture and sequestration technologies. That will be something that the hon. member will hear about a little bit later from my colleague, the Minister of Finance.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 31st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources, with support from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, was mandated to develop and implement a plan to plant two billion trees over 10 years as part of a broader commitment to natural climate solutions.

The program is on track to plant two billion trees over 10 years, resulting in a permanent increase in forest cover in Canada. The program provided funding to plant 30 million trees during the 2021 season, and that number will increase as the government’s partners ramp up their activities.

The 2 Billion Trees program is a proposal-based grants and contribution program. Interested and eligible organizations are required to submit project proposals. Expert evaluation panels assess projects to ensure they meet program objectives and co-benefits, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity, habitat restoration and human well-being. Projects must also pass risk and due diligence requirements before they are retained for funding via contribution agreements. As a result, specific tree planting locations will depend on the funding proposals put forward by provinces, territories, indigenous communities and organizations across Canada.

Following a call for expressions of interest in February 2021, the program received 120 applications for early tree planting in 2021. NRCan has finalized most of its funding agreements to support the planting of over 30 million trees across the country, in both urban and rural areas. Many of the projects began planting in spring 2021 and planting continued through the 2021 planting season. NRCan proactively discloses these grants and contributions on Open Canada at https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/.

These contribution agreements outline planned projects or activities. In the case of the 2 Billion Trees program, the exact number of trees planted are reported by the funding recipients on a quarterly basis and after all of their planting activities have been completed. Program recipients will have 60 days after the end of the fiscal year, March 31, 2022, to provide their final reporting. At that stage, NRCan will consolidate and validate the data and is expected to publicly disclose the results on the 2021 tree planting season in spring 2022.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 21st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources, with support from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, was mandated to develop and implement a plan to plant two billion trees over 10 years as part of a broader commitment to natural climate solutions.

The program is on track to plant two billion trees over 10 years, resulting in a permanent increase in forest cover in Canada. The program provided funding to plant 30 million trees during the 2021 season, and that number will increase as the government’s partners ramp up their activities.

The 2 Billion Trees program is a proposal-based grants and contribution program. Interested and eligible organizations are required to submit project proposals. Expert evaluation panels assess projects to ensure they meet program objectives and co-benefits, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity, habitat restoration and human well-being. Projects must also pass risk and due diligence requirements before they are retained for funding via contribution agreements. As a result, specific tree-planting locations and any related employment benefits will depend on the funding proposals put forward by provinces, territories, indigenous communities, and organizations across Canada.

Following a call for expressions of interest in February 2021, the program received 120 applications for early tree planting in 2021. NRCan has finalized most of its funding agreements to support the planting of over 30 million trees across the country, in both urban and rural areas. Many of the projects began planting in spring 2021, and planting continued through the 2021 planting season. NRCan proactively discloses these grants and contributions on Open Canada at https: //search. open.canada.ca/en/gc/.

Similar to other government grants and contribution programs, contribution agreements with federal funding recipients outline planned projects or activities. In the case of the 2 Billion Trees program, the exact number of trees planted is reported by the funding recipients on a quarterly basis and after all of their planting activities have been completed. Program recipients will have 60 days after the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2022, to provide their final reporting. At that stage, NRCan will consolidate and validate the data and is expected to publicly disclose the results on the 2021 tree planting season in spring 2022.

Funding recipients are required to report on their program activities, including details on the number and types of jobs created. Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program will create up to 4,300 jobs across the country. The data collected from funding recipients will serve as the basis of performance reporting for the program. Details on the program’s performance indicators can be found at https://www.canada.ca /en/campaign/ 2-billion-trees/ natural-climate-solutions -fund-performance- indicators.html.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 21st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, AECL’s payments to its contractors are provided in its annual report, available publicly at www.aecl.ca/reports-resources/.

As part of the restructuring of AECL, in 2014 the CNL was created and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of AECL until September 2015, at which point the shares of the CNL were transferred to a private sector contractor selected as part of a government-run procurement process for the management and operations of AECL’s sites. As such, for part of the 2015-16 fiscal year, the CNL was a wholly owned subsidiary of AECL; however, its financial statements were integrated into those of AECL. For the subsequent period, the CNL has operated as a private sector entity. As a result, AECL does not maintain the financial records of this separate private organization. Information on AECL’s financial position is provided in its annual reports, available publicly at www.aecl.ca/reports-resources/.

AECL is not responsible for either the CNL or the CNEA, both of which are private sector organizations. As such, AECL does not maintain information regarding the respective financial position of each entity.

[Natural Resources, March 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we, and certainly European countries, would agree that the dependence on Russian oil and gas is a significant problem for Europe that it must move to address. European ministers have made that commitment, including at the International Energy Agency ministerial meeting I participated in earlier this week.

We are working very actively with our European colleagues and with our American colleagues to ensure we are working to help address both short and long-term energy supply issues in the context that Europe and Canada have committed to do, which is in the context of fighting both the crisis in Europe and the crisis of climate change.