Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits

In response to the Parliamentary Committees’ request to Departmental responses to their questions and recommendations, Natural Resources Canada implemented an internal process to track and monitor questions raised at Parliamentary Committee meetings and ensured that the delivery of written responses were provided to the Parliamentary Committee Chairs within a 4 week deadline.

For the fall/winter sitting of the 41^st Parliament, 2^nd session, 2^nd sitting (September 2014 to June 2015), NRCan was tasked with 58 follow-up questions during various committee meetings. The department successfully responded to 55 questions within the departmental standard of 4 weeks. The remaining 3 were delayed due to the nature of the questions around the department’s main estimates and also due to the later-than-usual tabling of the federal Budget.

2014 Fall Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD)
Chapter 1 – Mitigating Climate Change
The Audit of Mitigating Climate Change was tabled in Fall 2014.  The audit had three objectives. The first was to determine whether Environment Canada, working with others, had made satisfactory progress in addressing four key issues from the CESD’s 2012 audit. The second objective was to determine whether Environment Canada, working with others, had used sounds methods for estimating and reporting Canada’s future greenhouse gas emissions. The third objective was to determine whether Environment Canada, working with others, was tracking, assessing, and reporting on funding under Canada’s Fast-Start Financing initiative and the results achieved, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. NRCan was excluded from the third objective.

Overall, the draft report concluded that progress since the CESD’s last audit in 2012 has been unsatisfactory. Further, Environment Canada has generally used sound methods to estimate and report future greenhouse gas emissions, however its practices could be improved by more objective reporting, strengthened internal training and greater transparency regarding its projections and reports. Environment Canada, working with others, is tracking, assessing, and reporting on the Fast-Start Financing Initiative and the results achieved, however it needs greater consistency and transparency in its public reports.

Two recommendations identify the need for Environment Canada to work with others specifically NRCan.

The first recommendation dealt with publicly reporting the effects of the regulations currently in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The response was:

“Agreed. In consultation with other federal departments and other key partners, Environment Canada will continue to report publicly on the results of its regulations currently in place. This will be done, for example, through the National Inventory Reports and Canada’s Emissions Trends. Environment Canada will also work with other federal departments and other partners, as appropriate, to examine lessons learned with a view to applying them to planned regulations.”

The second recommendation dealt with improving the value to decision makers of its climate change reports.  The response was:

“Agreed. Environment Canada has taken steps to improve its transparency on climate change reporting and is committed to continuous improvement. Since 2011, Environment Canada has reported greenhouse gas emissions projections through Canada’s Emissions Trends. This report, which has been well-received by stakeholders, has evolved since its inception to include enhanced descriptions and recommendations from external reviewers.
While Environment Canada’s approach presents information in a complete and transparent manner, we acknowledge that there is room for improvement. In future reports, Environment Canada will continue to ensure that its climate change reports are consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) guidelines for preparing emissions projections, and provide a more comprehensive and clearer discussion of the sensitivity analysis undertaken for emissions projections.

Environment Canada, working with the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, will continue to estimate and report future emissions/removals from Canada’s forests, and more generally from land use, land-use change, and forestry activities, using methods that are consistent with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines; and appropriately describe the application of UNFCCC rules and approaches as they evolve.”

2014 Fall Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD)
Chapter 5 – Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies

The Audit of Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies was tabled in Fall 2014.  The audit objective was to determine whether selected departments and agencies have mechanisms in place to ensure compliance with key aspects of the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals and its related guidelines, and to ensure that environmental implications and considerations are integrated into proposals submitted to an individual minister or Cabinet for approval.

Overall, the audit concluded that despite commitments to strengthen the application of the Cabinet Directive and its related guidelines, individual ministers and Cabinet are still not receiving, on a systematic basis, information on the environmental implications of policy, plan, or program proposals.

The Department received one recommendation.  The recommendation related to a need for departments to review their strategic environmental assessment processes to ensure that they are consistently and appropriately concluding and that they are fulfilling the underlying sustainable development principles of transparency and accountability.  The response was:

“Agreed. As committed to in the departmental Report on Plans and Priorities and the departmental sustainable development strategy reporting of 2014–15, Natural Resources Canada will continue integration of strategic environmental assessment into its strategic decision-making processes. Specifically, the Department will support ongoing transparency and accountability in its strategic environmental assessment process, including undertaking detailed strategic environmental assessments, as appropriate, and issuing public statements of environmental effects thereafter, as well as encouraging public statements for other levels of strategic environmental assessment, in compliance with the Cabinet directive and its guidelines, the Departmental Directive on Environmental Assessment, and guidance supplied by central agencies.”

2014 Fall Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD)
Chapter 6 – Environmental Petitions Annual Report
The Environmental Petitions Annual Report was tabled in Fall 2014.  The objective of this annual report was to inform Parliament and Canadians about the use of the environmental petitions process.

The annual report found that Departments provided 86% of petition responses this year within the 120-day statutory deadline. This represents the same percentage as last year.

The annual report does not make any recommendations.

2013-2014 OAG Audit of Public Accounts (NRCan)
Independent Auditor’s Opinion
The Audit of Public Accounts was tabled in Fall 2014. The purpose of the audit was to express an opinion on whether the consolidated financial statements are fairly presented. 

The auditor’s opinion was that the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Government of Canada as at 31 March 2014. 

No recommendations were made to the Department.

N/A. There were no external audits of NRCan conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages.