Environment committee  We do not know what the government's sustainable development strategy will contain. The government may decide to move in another direction. If there are financial issues that involve the Department of Finance, we will report back to Parliament. If we have accessibility issues, we

Environment committee  Usually we have access to any documentation we need in order to do our analyses. Normally, that would include any analyses submitted to cabinet. That was quite an exceptional case, but it has always been difficult to get information from the Department of Finance when we are doin

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  What I could add is the fact that when we look at the way things were being implemented prior to the proposals that are in front of us, we said there were major problems with governance and accountability. Climate change is a horizontal file. It involves a number of departments,

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  It is the same for me. I must say that it is rather disappointing when we see the departments’ sustainable development plans.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Disappointing, because one would expect that these documents be strategic documents explaining the direction they will take, detailing how they will ensure that sustainable development becomes a reality. This is a long-term objective, but we are seeing rather weak commitments on

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  We have not tried to do that exercise, because in some cases programs may not generate a lot of reductions in the short term, but they are aimed at having an impact on society to generate further reductions in the longer term. So how do you calculate a per tonne value? It's a ver

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  If we had done a strategic environmental assessment, then we would probably have established that there were links to be made. Unfortunately, such was not the case. The department did not do its duty. The implementation of a strategic environmental assessment is a requirement. Ca

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  As you know, departments are required to produce sustainable development strategies every three years. When we established the position of Commissioner of the Environment, we also created the obligation for departments to tell us how they will go about greening their operations,

Natural Resources committee  Yes, absolutely.

Natural Resources committee  However, the information related to program review should be available.

Natural Resources committee  I would like to point out that there is a definition of sustainable development in the Auditor General Act, and if you read the definition and you look at the explanation you gave us, I think there's probably a sustainable development issue there.

Natural Resources committee  It's variable, and the Treasury Board has criteria to evaluate, first of all, if a program that was submitted was truly a climate change program or something else, because often departments mix the two. It wasn't a program that was providing benefits from a standpoint of climate

Natural Resources committee  Yes, the program review has looked at the road map, but Treasury Board has said there are things missing from this big road map. One of them is the governance piece, and another one is the performance management piece. In 2004-05 things were starting to get in motion in a positi

Natural Resources committee  The Treasury Board has been working on an electronic system to capture information, but this information obviously comes from departments and departments have different definitions of what they are doing. Treasury Board was trying to facilitate a process where everyone would wor

Natural Resources committee  Yes, climate change obviously is a horizontal issue touching a number of departments and central agencies. Leadership was given at different times to Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada on this. There was a secretariat that was reporting to the deputy ministers of bot