House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2019, with 55% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I put that question to Dr. Dodds recently, and those decisions have not yet been taken.
This is a continuing process. We will ensure, as I have reassured this House any number of times, that ozone monitoring in all its dimensions will continue. Canada will continue to host the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre in Montreal and provide world-class service.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, as my colleague should know through repeated answers to her questions in the House these recent months, our government has no intention of reducing ozone monitoring at our three principle Arctic ozone stations in Alert, Resolute and Eureka.
My colleague should know since she questioned our lead scientist, Dr. Karen Dodds, on this matter that there are considerations of some streamlining at the southern ozone monitoring stations, which will not compromise in any way the quality of the excellent work our scientists are doing.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, again to my colleague's preamble, Canada will fulfill all its obligations under the existing Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and I urge her to wait patiently for details on the updated agreement.
With regard to our sectoral regulatory approach to greenhouse gases, again my colleague makes no reference to the latest greenhouse gas inventory report, which we brought out a month ago. It shows that emissions are down in virtually every sector, including oil and gas, for a variety of reasons.
My colleagues on the other side often like to compare Canada to Australia. Our per capita greenhouse gas emissions today are at the lowest level since 1990 and below Australia's equivalent.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I would again quibble with the preamble in my colleague's question. However, with regard to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the good news is that in the very near future we will be announcing renewal of that treaty and an updating with regard to all the areas of mutual concern between our two countries. That involves water, air and biodiversity on both sides of our shared boundary.
Again, I urge patience on my colleague for just a few short weeks until the final details of that renewed treaty will be made public.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, again I will correct my hon. colleague. Part of the objective of the report on plans and priorities is to outline potential risks in the year ahead. She did quote one paragraph rather accurately, but like the original news story, which she is using as the basis for her question, she does not quote the subsequent paragraphs where we outline in great detail exactly the measures we will take to mitigate those risks and strengthen and encourage the scientific vitality of my department.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I will correct my hon. colleague. What we are doing is strengthening and contemporizing the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. It is an act that our government has been reviewing for some time now. Legislative changes with regard to CEAA were brought into effect in June 2010. They have worked.
What we have in the legislation before the House now, in Bill C-38, is to improve on those original fixes to strengthen environmental protection while at the same time eliminating duplication and providing firm and efficient timelines.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Again, this is a particularly relevant question from my colleague, Madam Chair, and I am proud to say that this government has a strong record of investing in environmental enforcement and achieving results. Our government has made significant investments in enforcement. The government permanently increased resources to enforcement by $21 million annually to ensure we have the officers, the equipment, the forensic science and the tools to do the job.
Today there are 50% more enforcement officers than there were just five years ago. They are stationed in offices across the country. They are working in the field to detect and take action against those who violate our environmental legislation.
Every day, these dedicated men and women gather intelligence, they conduct inspections and they build investigations against polluters, poachers and smugglers. The goal of officers is to stop environmental crime and, where possible, to bring offenders back into compliance. They have a range of tools to help them do so.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
It is an excellent question, Madam Chair, and I thank my colleague from the neighbouring riding of Vaughan.
Let me assure the House and all Canadians that knowledgeable Parks Canada staff will captivate all ages and interests with fascinating stories, an authentic sense of place and interactive and experimental programs that I believe will ignite the imagination and engage the senses.
In many cases, partnerships with local aboriginal peoples will bring representatives of these groups into events and programs to tell their own stories first-hand.
Through Canada's economic action plan, Parks Canada has invested more than $16 million at many of our War of 1812 national historic sites. As a result, we have made improvements to visitor infrastructure, updated our exhibits and rehabilitated our historic resources.
Now, thanks to a $9.4 million share of the government's 1812 commemoration fund, Parks Canada is rolling out programming under all three pillars of the commemoration. There will be a television docudrama series. There will be a graphic novel and web based initiatives, including social media and other news media, all appealing to young Canadians.
The 200th anniversary will also be widely commemorated in the United States. This activity will include binational awareness through the celebration period.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, I am pleased to be here this evening to discuss with the committee of the whole this important budget and our commitment to environmental excellence in Canada.
I am accompanied this evening by my deputy minister, Paul Boothe, the chief executive officer of Parks Canada, Alan Latourelle, and the president of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Elaine Feldman.
Recently I marked my one-year anniversary as Canada's environment minister. I must say that the past year and a half has been challenging, but it has been very rewarding.
As we look forward to the next year, our government is keenly focused on ensuring that our natural resources are developed in an environmental and sustainable manner while maximizing economic growth, competitiveness and the creation of good long-term jobs for Canadians.
As we all know, one of the main duties of Environment Canada is to develop, implement, monitor and enforce science-based environmental standards and regulations across Canada.
This year, we are focusing on simplifying and increasing the efficiency and transparency of our regulatory processes to make them more effective. The department is strongly committed to growing as a world-class regulatory organization, and it will continue to improve its track record of regulatory excellence.
My department has made steady progress in a number of key areas. Working in partnership with Alberta, I announced on February 3 an historic plan for implementing a world-class, comprehensive and transparent environmental monitoring plan in the oil sands. This plan will deliver rigorous scientific data to ensure that the oil sands are developed in an environmentally sustainable manner. My department will monitor water, air and biodiversity, and it will be among the most transparent and most accountable systems of its kind in the world.
Monitoring will be carried out in more places, more frequently, for more substances. For example, by 2015 we will add up to 22 new water sites, 11 new air sites, and over 37 new biodiversity sites. The dedicated scientists in my department have already begun collecting crucial measurements during the spring melt and the ice breakup. Throughout this process, we have been engaging industry, independent scientists, aboriginal peoples and other stakeholders.
Canada is making significant progress in reducing Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 through a sector-by-sector plan. In fact, federal measures, combined with actions taken by provinces, brought us one-quarter of the way toward our 2020 target a year ago, and we have made significant progress since then. Emissions have declined in almost all sectors, including oil and gas and electricity generation, since 2005. Between 2009 and 2010, our emissions remained virtually steady, despite economic growth of 3.2%.
More progress on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is forthcoming, following on publication of our final cold-fired electricity regulations in coming weeks and the proposed heavy duty vehicle regulations I recently announced.
All of these proposed regulations will help enhance Canada's position as a world leader in clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality for all Canadians.
We are now moving forward to develop regulated performance standards for other major emitting industrial sectors. We have already initiated an engagement process with the oil and gas sector and the provinces to enable ongoing consultation on regulatory development. We plan a similar engagement as we move forward to develop regulations for other emissions in intensive industrial sectors.
My department will also continue its efforts to improve air quality by working with provinces, industry and non-governmental organizations to implement the air quality management system. This system is a comprehensive consensus-based approach to reducing air pollutant emissions and improving air quality across Canada, eventually in partnership with the U.S. along the lines of the acid rain treaty.
Furthermore, under the next phase of Canada's chemicals management plan, our department is working with partners to assess and regulate a multitude of chemicals used in thousands of industrial and consumer products.
As part of the action plan for clean water, in 2011 the Government of Canada invested almost $3 million for the cleanup of Lake Simcoe and almost $400,000 for nine new community projects to clean up Lake Winnipeg. Negotiations with the United States to modernize the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement have been successful. The process to amend the agreement is nearing completion.
Significant resources were invested in the Great Lakes for the cleanup of contaminated sites, reduction of harmful algae blooms, waste water infrastructure and science and research.
We are also taking action to protect and conserve Canada's rich and abundant biodiversity. Under our new Plan Saint-Laurent, we are working with Quebec to ensure water quality, to protect ecologically sensitive areas and to conserve the incredible biodiversity of that mighty river. In that regard, the Canada-Quebec agreement on the St. Lawrence was signed and announced in Montreal last November. This new agreement sets out the St. Lawrence action plan up to 2026.
Under budget 2012, $50 million over two years is being provided to support updated application of the Species at Risk Act. This money will support improvements to the program that respond to submissions made during and after the parliamentary review of the act in 2009 and 2010. These changes will deliver greater conservation benefits, reduce the need for direct federal intervention and provide greater certainty for partners.
On the international stage, Canada has played a significant role in advancing work toward a new international climate agreement for the future. The Durban platform for enhanced action took an important step forward by setting out a negotiating mandate for all countries to develop a single new international treaty to include all major emitters to be implemented by 2020. This has been a long-standing objective of our government.
We have invested and continue to invest $1.2 billion in fast-start financing to help developing countries address global climate change. Canada is also working with international partners to reduce short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon and methane.
There has been much talk—and great exaggeration, misrepresentation and few factual references—about the changes to environmental assessments under the responsible resource development initiative. My colleagues will speak to this matter in detail later in the debate, but let me just say that our government takes environmental protection very seriously. We are amending outdated and inefficient elements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act in order to modernize the environmental assessment processes and strengthen enforcement provisions.
For the first time, for example, federal inspectors will have authority to examine whether conditions in an environmental assessment decision statement are actually met. When passed, Bill C-38 would allow for monetary penalties that range from $100,000 to $400,000 for non-compliance. These are real penalties meant to ensure compliance and to safeguard Canadians. They complement the much greater stiffening of regulations under CEPA a year ago.
Environment Canada has also focused its resources to address areas of highest concern to Canadians, such as severe weather. I announced investments to strengthen weather monitoring infrastructure, ensuring Canadians continued access to world-class weather, water and climate monitoring data, and we will continue to provide Canadians with a comprehensive national weather, water and climate monitoring system.
I must say that I am very proud of the accomplishments and dedication of this government vis-à-vis the environment. We are serving Canadians every day and protecting Canada for years to come. Our government's economic action plan is creating jobs and growth for Canadians now and in the future.
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank members present on both sides of the House for their interest in the work of my department and I welcome their questions throughout the evening.
Business of Supply May 15th, 2012
Madam Chair, my answer to those three simplistic questions would be “no”.