Environment committee  Hello. My name is Colette Downie, and I work at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to appear today to address findings of the Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change report. I would also like to thank

Environment committee  Madam Chair, I am pleased to be with you and members of the committee to discuss the measures Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC, has in place to manage climate change risks. I am joined by Veronica Silva, director general of Technical Services in our Real Property

Environment committee  Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today as you consider the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development's “Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change” audit findings, as they relate to Transport Canada. Impacts associated

Environment committee  According to the data, is climate change happening? Is it a reality?

Environment committee  I think the fact that climate change is happening is unequivocal. The leading scientists of the world have stated unequivocally that climate change is happening and is unequivocally caused by human actions. I don't think there's any debate on that point.

Environment committee  Would you agree that there's no silver bullet to solving the climate change dilemma?

Environment committee   billion into disaster mitigation adaptation, $260 million over five years to implement the pan-Canadian framework commitments. This is a very multi-faceted, broad plan that is working with the different levels of government to achieve this very large goal of reducing climate change

Environment committee   an idea what this all will cost them. The commissioner who appeared before us earlier made it very clear that when it came to establishing policies that would allow all the departments across Canada to adapt to the risk of climate change, there was a lack of leadership on the part

Environment committee  . While this is an important bit of work that needs to be done, and it is work we are working on now, I think it's incomplete to equate this government or the department's efforts on adapting to the impacts of climate change by looking at its own departmental risk assessment. In fact

Environment committee  Sure. As my colleague mentioned, when we talk about leadership in federal departments and agencies, it is important to distinguish between internal risk assessment processes and external. Environment and Climate Change Canada undertook work in 2014. It was widely supported

Environment committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The commissioner has credited this government with finally producing a plan to address climate change, but she is critical of the government for lacking in action. I'm wondering, Mr. Jones, if you can tell the committee why the government continues

Environment committee  What about the remaining funds? There are two pages of lists of items where dollars are committed to be spent to address climate change, yet none of those dollars have been released. Can't you speak to those?

Environment committee   encouraging. My next question is for either Natural Resources or Transport Canada or both. The commissioner noted the progress your department has made in assessing risks of climate change and taking action to address those risks. Did you have to shift priorities or shift budgets? How did

Environment committee  . Here we're talking about climate change problems in Canada, and then we're talking about reducing emissions. Which one of you will guarantee that when we reduce emissions, we will ameliorate the climate change issues in Canada? Okay, there's silence. That speaks volumes.

Environment committee  I'm just trying to get my head around the question. Are you asking me if I can guarantee that if we reduce emissions, we'll reduce climate change impacts?