Environment committee  Thank you for your question. We work in a team with all our provincial and territorial counterparts, especially with representatives from environment ministries. There are a few committees within our organization, including a committee that brings together Canadian ministers of the environment.

Environment committee  In terms of the transportation sector, as is the case with many aspects of climate change, there are many players there. Certainly, infrastructure funding—and green infrastructure, specifically—is a critical piece of the puzzle, as electric buses and other more sustainable modes of transport are eligible through multiple streams of the investing in Canada plan.

Environment committee  My name is Matt Jones. I am the assistant deputy minister of the pan-Canadian framework implementation office, formerly known as the climate policy office. Our group was involved in developing our national climate change plan, the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change.

Environment committee  I'm very sorry, but I want to flag something that I failed to mention during my update on the PCF, namely, two online resources that might be useful to the work of the committee. One is called the “Climate action map”, which is found on the Environment and Climate Change Canada website.

Environment committee  There have been a number of developments recently. Somewhere here I have a bit of an itemized list, but the high points are numerous. I think a lot is happening on green infrastructure and bilateral agreements with provinces on the infrastructure side. When it comes to regulatory developments, there have been a number of draft regulations published that John could tell you more about, including our efforts to accelerate the phase-out of coal-powered power plants.

Environment committee  I would like to make a quick comment on behalf of my colleagues working on climate change. At Environment and Climate Change Canada, we established along with the Pan-Canadian framework three distinctions-based tables with the Métis nation, first nations, and Inuit with representatives from across the country.

Environment committee  I'm not sure if there's an international agency specifically tasked with that. I know there has been lots of analysis over the years, mostly within this country by Natural Resources Canada, on the emissions intensity of oil production. International comparisons have been developed, and that analysis has been done.

Environment committee  In terms of transparency when it comes to other countries and specifically with respect to the Paris commitment, all countries report to the United Nations through their national communications and their inventories on their greenhouse gas policies. Those policies and those reports are available online.

Environment committee  That's a complicated question that we could talk about for a long time potentially, and I don't think we have looked at our environmental policies being tied explicitly to export revenues from one sector. Certainly revenues are the revenues of the government, but the government has taken a balanced approach where they're looking to grow the economy, of course, and reduce our emissions intensity within the country.

Environment committee  Sure. I'd be pleased to. I think the bulk of the resources that are available to the department and to Parks Canada and to the Environmental Assessment Agency have been provided through previous budget allotments. In this case, we have asked for some specific funds for some specific purposes.

Environment committee  Yes, but I don't have the figures in front of me. I'm sorry.

Environment committee  Yes, I think there are many spheres of the complex issue of climate change, and Canada is attempting to play a leadership role in each of those. Step one is to pull your weight in terms of reducing emissions, which I feel we are doing, and that's being recognized. The others are to contribute to international processes, which we're doing, and contribute to the efforts of other countries; and you've heard presentations at this committee on climate finance and other things.

Environment committee  I would have to come back to you on that. My colleagues John Moffet and Helen Ryan, who have testified before this committee many times, are responsible for the coal reg, and there is a regulatory impact assessment statement attached to our regulations that spells out a rather complete and rigorous analysis of the impacts of those regulations.

Environment committee  I don't have that information in front of me. Wood is, almost by definition, a carbon-neutral fuel, so while there is carbon emission from the forest, it absorbs those carbon atoms from the atmosphere. We do follow the emissions from home wood combustion more from an air pollutant perspective, because there are potential significant localized air pollutants that come from wood combustion.

Environment committee  Certainly. Picking up on past questions about past models and what they are showing, one test for the accuracy and usefulness of models is to look at what they predicted a long time ago and see what has come to pass. If you look at the national impact assessment from 10 years ago—I think that was the study that was done by NRCan—if you run through the list of things they predicted, you can see the very clear examples, one of which is an increased incidence of forest fires, as one would expect, coupled with an increased incidence of prolonged periods of heat and drought, and inconsistent precipitation.