Mr. Chairman and honourable committee members, thank you for inviting the Green Budget Coalition to speak to you today about Bill C-97.

Lisa Gue, aside from being the co-chair of the Green Budget Coalition, is the senior researcher and analyst, science and policy, for the David Suzuki Foundation.

The Green Budget Coalition, active since 1999, brings together the expertise of 22 of Canada's leading environmental organizations, collectively representing over one million Canadians, to identify budgetary opportunities to advance environmental sustainability in Canada.

Today I will provide brief feedback on the 2019 budget, and then focus on the investment in zero-emission vehicles, as well as proposed changes to the Pest Control Products Act in Bill C-97.

The Green Budget Coalition was particularly pleased that budget 2019 increased funding to address climate change by including $1 billion in support of building energy efficiency and four measures to support zero-emission vehicles. The budget also provided some details on the peer review process with Argentina of federal fossil fuel subsidies, and we are hopeful that this peer review process will assist the government in finally eliminating subsidies and non-tax support to fossil fuels.

In addition, we were pleased to see renewed funding for contaminated sites cleanup, and new funding for food policy, energy data and first nations water and waste-water infrastructure.

Turning to zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, approximately one-quarter of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions originate in the transportation sector. The Green Budget Coalition recommended investments to accelerate the transition to ZEVs. We need a smart strategy that helps more people buy clean cars, not only to reduce harmful emissions but also to strategically position the entire auto manufacturing industry to grow with the global transition to electric vehicles.

We were pleased to see the commitment to national targets for zero-emission vehicle sales ramping up to 100% by 2040, backed by a $300-million investment for a three-year purchase incentive program. We expect this to immediately make purchasing electric vehicles more affordable and appealing across Canada. However, it is not clear that $300 million will be sufficient over a three-year period; additional funding might be needed in budget 2020 or 2021.

We also appreciated the $130-million investment in charging stations and the proposal for businesses to be able to write off 100% of the ZEV purchase price in one year, a strong incentive for high-distance businesses such as delivery and taxi companies and school bus companies to buy more zero-emission vehicles.

However, I would highlight that the Green Budget Coalition recommended a two-pronged approach, combining purchase incentives with mandatory sales targets for zero-emission vehicles. The budget announced that Transport Canada will work with automakers to secure voluntary sales targets. We believe regulated sales targets will be necessary to complement budget 2019's funding measures to ensure a sufficient supply of ZEVs for Canadians.

Finally, I would draw your attention to proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Act in part 4 of Bill C-97. The Green Budget Coalition has highlighted the need for increased investment to enable Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency, the PMRA, to deliver on its legislative obligations for post-market review of pesticides in Canada, to ensure risks to health and the environment are not unacceptable. Unfortunately, budget 2019 does not adequately address the budget crunch at PMRA. While we understand these proposed legislative changes to the Pest Control Products Act are intended to improve efficiencies, it is important that this effort not undercut the environmental and public health purposes of the act or interfere with sound decision-making.

GBC member organizations are concerned that the proposed provisions as drafted could limit public participation and reduce transparency, potentially leading to unacceptable health or environmental risks. To address this, these Green Budget Coalition members have proposed discrete amendments to maintain existing legislative guarantees of consultation and accountability and prevent further erosion of public confidence in federal pesticide regulation.

To conclude, thank you again for inviting the Green Budget Coalition to appear today. We look forward to your questions.

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