The Trudeau government has big spending plans for Environment and Climate Change Canada as well as the department responsible for immigration and refugees according to the main estimates released Monday.
It will also spend freely on the immigration department — but not to enhance border security: $289.9 million will be allocated “to facilitate the entry of top talent and to support family reunification and protection of refugees.” Another $89.8 million will go to provide health care for refugees — whether they enter Canada legally or not.
By far the largest winner is the environment and climate change department, headed by Catherine McKenna. Her budget will balloon to $1.5 billion in the coming fiscal year: that’s a 53.5 percent jump from the previous year and 23.1 percent more than it actually spent in the last year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renamed the federal department from just “environment” to reflect his government’s huge emphasis on climate change — an issue that Trudeau rarely fails to mention in his speeches at home or abroad. Canada’s Liberal government even insists that a commitment to “fight” climate change is part of any trade deal that it negotiates.
Although the Liberal government tabled its annual budget in February, the main estimates provide the details on exactly how tax dollars will be spent on a department by department basis.
The government is also making programs to fight gender-based violence a priority in its overall spending, which is seven percent higher in 2017 than it was the previous year.
It’s not clear what exactly the environment department will produce with its economic stimulus. Almost a third of the budget will go to a program called the Low Carbon Economy Fund that the Trudeau government established to promote its commitment to lowering carbon emissions. Another $14.5 million is allocated to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, which is apparently more a discussion group than an action plan.
The federal government does provide some funding for environmental action with $14.4 million available for the Freshwater Action Plan and another $13.8 million for environmental remediation on federal lands.