For the second time in a week, opposition MPs had hours to ask questions of a cabinet minister, and once again some left unsatisfied with the answers they received.
Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole on the main estimates for Environment Canada convened late into the evening and went well into the night. During the four-hour meeting, opposition MPs grilled the environment minister on the government’s plans for environmental oversight and job cuts to his department.
Kent confirmed that 200 jobs will be cut from Environment Canada over the next three years – including some to its environmental emergency offices, which are being consolidated. He also revealed that an upcoming report on shale gas exploration will arrive later this year or in early 2013.
New Democrat environment critic Megan Leslie began the meeting with a quick round of questions for the minister on his plans to attend the upcoming climate conference in Brazil. Kent told Leslie he plans to attend with a delegation of stakeholders. Asked if opposition members would be allowed along, Kent was curt. “The answer is simple, it is short” he said. “No.”
Kent used his time on the floor to remind everyone that regulations for industry are in the works, and that despite some “exaggeration and misrepresentation” about the responsible resource development initiative, the government takes environmental protection “very seriously.” By way of example, he pointed to the government’s recent announcement of a new oil sands monitoring plan. Throughout the evening he assured MPs that despite pending layoffs, Environment Canada will still be able to carry out its core responsibilities.
However, often on Tuesday evening Kent was unable to provide specifics for MPs.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Leslie asked Kent to provide a figure for how much the government planned to spend on industry consultations in the upcoming year. Kent said that was not a budget line item, but part of a larger process. He also had no figure for how much would be spent on public consultations.
Kent could not tell Leslie if the government had done any economic costing on the financial fallout if Canada failed to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets. She also quizzed him on the dollar figure Canada would be saving by leaving the Kyoto Accord. Kent could not give a specific figure but told the House that by not embracing Kyoto, the savings would be in the billions, as it would no longer be spending tax dollars to buy “hot air credit” from European countries.
Leslie told iPolitics that the lack of economic forecasting shows the government is “making it up as they go along.”
NDP MP Peter Julian asked Kent what motivated the government’s plans to disband the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy. On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the House the NRTEE had produced a number of reports on Canada’s need for a carbon tax, an idea he said Canadians dismissed in a past election. The suggestion was that it was for that reason that the organization was cut.
Tuesday night, Kent repeated what he said in question period earlier in the day: NRTEE was cut because a number of other organizations provide similar services and that the government wants to reduce duplication. When asked if he could list organizations that do similar work, Kent declined. He was “not going to run through the list,” he said.
In one of the evening’s more obscure moments, Associate Minister of Defence Julian Fantino put a question to Kent about Parks Canada’s plans for commemorating the War of 1812. Kent revealed that over $16 million has been invested in that initiative.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Colin Horgan
Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole on the main estimates for Environment Canada convened late into the evening and went well into the night. During the four-hour meeting, opposition MPs grilled the environment minister on the government’s plans for environmental oversight and job cuts to his department.
Kent confirmed that 200 jobs will be cut from Environment Canada over the next three years – including some to its environmental emergency offices, which are being consolidated. He also revealed that an upcoming report on shale gas exploration will arrive later this year or in early 2013.
New Democrat environment critic Megan Leslie began the meeting with a quick round of questions for the minister on his plans to attend the upcoming climate conference in Brazil. Kent told Leslie he plans to attend with a delegation of stakeholders. Asked if opposition members would be allowed along, Kent was curt. “The answer is simple, it is short” he said. “No.”
Kent used his time on the floor to remind everyone that regulations for industry are in the works, and that despite some “exaggeration and misrepresentation” about the responsible resource development initiative, the government takes environmental protection “very seriously.” By way of example, he pointed to the government’s recent announcement of a new oil sands monitoring plan. Throughout the evening he assured MPs that despite pending layoffs, Environment Canada will still be able to carry out its core responsibilities.
However, often on Tuesday evening Kent was unable to provide specifics for MPs.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Leslie asked Kent to provide a figure for how much the government planned to spend on industry consultations in the upcoming year. Kent said that was not a budget line item, but part of a larger process. He also had no figure for how much would be spent on public consultations.
Kent could not tell Leslie if the government had done any economic costing on the financial fallout if Canada failed to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets. She also quizzed him on the dollar figure Canada would be saving by leaving the Kyoto Accord. Kent could not give a specific figure but told the House that by not embracing Kyoto, the savings would be in the billions, as it would no longer be spending tax dollars to buy “hot air credit” from European countries.
Leslie told iPolitics that the lack of economic forecasting shows the government is “making it up as they go along.”
NDP MP Peter Julian asked Kent what motivated the government’s plans to disband the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy. On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the House the NRTEE had produced a number of reports on Canada’s need for a carbon tax, an idea he said Canadians dismissed in a past election. The suggestion was that it was for that reason that the organization was cut.
Tuesday night, Kent repeated what he said in question period earlier in the day: NRTEE was cut because a number of other organizations provide similar services and that the government wants to reduce duplication. When asked if he could list organizations that do similar work, Kent declined. He was “not going to run through the list,” he said.
In one of the evening’s more obscure moments, Associate Minister of Defence Julian Fantino put a question to Kent about Parks Canada’s plans for commemorating the War of 1812. Kent revealed that over $16 million has been invested in that initiative.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Colin Horgan
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