2025 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada and the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentOpening Statement to the News Conference
Good morning and thank you for joining us. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.
With me today is Jerry DeMarco, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Because of the compressed House of Commons Sitting Calendar, I included the spring reports of the Commissioner with my spring reports that were delivered to Parliament earlier today. We are also making a joint opening statement to summarize the 8 reports, beginning with the Commissioner’s.
Thank you. The reports I am presenting today all involve issues that are fundamental to achieving sustainability.
I’ll turn first to our audit of Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy, which sets out whole‑of‑society objectives and targets for more coordinated and strategic climate change adaptation action across Canada.
We found weaknesses in the Strategy’s design and implementation. Essential elements needed to make it effective—such as a prioritization of Canada’s climate change risks—were missing. We also found that the Adaptation Action Plan, which is meant to be the centrepiece of the national strategy, was not comprehensive. The plan includes 73 actions, and we found that implementation was limited for the 7 actions that we assessed.
What’s more, the other 2 overarching components of the strategy—the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Bilateral Action Plans, and the Indigenous Climate Leadership Agenda—were still on the drawing board.
We first recommended the development of a strategy to adapt to Canada’s changing climate nearly 20 years ago. Although the release of the National Adaptation Strategy in 2023 was an important first step, urgent attention is still needed to achieve impactful action. The sooner that Canada acts, the more sustainable the outcomes will be for peoples’ health, safety and livelihoods.
Let’s turn now to our audit of the work carried out by Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Parks Canada to identify and monitor critical habitat for species at risk. The loss and degradation of habitat is the primary threat for most species at risk.
In this audit, we found that protection efforts have been undermined by incomplete information and insufficient monitoring. Using the best information available to them at the time, all 3 organizations identified critical habitat for species at risk. However, they were often slow to gather the additional information needed to understand the complete range of habitats for a given species, such as where they might nest versus where they feed.
We also found that monitoring of habitat conservation efforts on federal land was limited, making it difficult to know whether actions were delivering intended results.
This is the final audit in a series that examined how the Species at Risk Act is being put into action, from assessing species’ status to protecting their habitats. Across all these audits, we observed delays and gaps in information that have hindered the protection and recovery of species at risk. Responsible departments need to gather more data and improve monitoring to deliver on the commitment that Canada made in 2022, through the Global Biodiversity Framework, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, which includes preventing the extinction of species at risk.
Our next audit focused on whether Fisheries and Oceans Canada effectively led the development of an integrated oceans management approach to balancing environmental conservation with the sustainable use of marine resources in the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans.
We found that while the department worked with partners in 5 priority regions, the integrated ocean plans developed were high‑level and did not lead to concrete actions. The department has also made little progress in developing marine spatial planning. This newer, internationally recognized planning process adopted by the department in 2018, is designed to coordinate when and where human activities should take place in the oceans.
Integrated ocean planning became part of federal law nearly 3 decades ago; Canadians are still waiting for it to be implemented. In the face of climate change and competing interests, it is more important than ever that Fisheries and Oceans Canada deliver on its leadership responsibilities.
My final report today looks back on more than 30 years of federal government actions on sustainable development and sets out 6 lessons to help Canada achieve better outcomes.
Over the past 3 decades, Canada has set national targets and contributed to setting international targets but has struggled to deliver on its commitments. It has made the least improvement among all G7 nations in meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The report identifies the need for a more integrated approach to sustainable development that incorporates social, economic, and environmental factors in decision making, policies and programs. Other lessons include strengthening leadership at the national level and enhanced collaboration among key players, with a specific focus on greater engagement with Indigenous governments and peoples.
Implementing sustainable development is proving to be an immense challenge in Canada. This report provides information and analysis to help Canada improve its sustainable development performance and foster a better future for generations to come.
This completes the summary of my 4 reports. The Auditor General will now review the key findings of her reports.
I will turn first to our audit of registration under the Indian Act. Registration gives First Nations people access to vital services such as on‑reserve housing, financial assistance for post‑secondary education, and health benefits not covered by other programs or insurance plans.
Our audit concluded that Indigenous Services Canada poorly managed the First Nations registration process. We found that the department’s average time to make a decision on complex registration applications was almost 16 months, exceeding its 6‑month service standard. Even when applicants were prioritized for reasons such as medical emergencies, the department took an average of about 10 months to make a decision.
Indigenous Services Canada has the mandate to gradually transfer registration responsibilities to First Nations communities. To this end, it partners with community-based registration administrators and trusted source organizations that help people apply for registration. However, the audit found that funding for trusted sources was unpredictable and unstable. It also noted that the funding formula for community-based registration administrators had remained unchanged since 1994.
Registration under the Indian Act plays a central role in the recognition of First Nations people under Canadian law. It gives access to important services and benefits, but people are waiting far too long for decisions.
Our next audit examined National Defence’s project to replace Canada’s aging CF‑18 fighter jets with advanced CF‑35As.
We found that estimated costs of the Future Fighter Capability Project have significantly increased and that the project faces several risks that could jeopardize the timely introduction of the new fleet.
National Defence originally estimated that the project would cost $19 billion. The audit found that this figure was based on outdated information, and that by 2024, the projected costs had increased to $27.7 billion—almost 50% more than the original estimate. This figure did not include other essential elements needed for full operational capability, such as certain infrastructure upgrades and advanced weapons, which would add at least $5.5 billion to the total estimated cost.
The audit also found that there were other important risks, including a potential shortage of qualified pilots, and that the construction of 2 new fighter squadron facilities to accommodate the CF‑35s was more than 3 years behind schedule. As a result, costs to develop an interim facilities solution will further increase infrastructure expenses.
Maintaining a strong fighter‑jet capability contributes to the safety and security of Canadians. This is a large, multiyear project that requires active and ongoing management of risks and costs to ensure that the CF‑35 fleet can be brought into service on time.
Our next audit looked at the federal government’s efforts to right size its portfolio of office space to minimize costs and free up underused properties that could be converted into affordable housing for families. In 2017, Public Services and Procurement Canada estimated that half of the government’s office space was underused. The department planned to reduce office space by 50% by 2034.
Our audit found that Public Services and Procurement Canada had made little progress in its multiyear effort to reduce its office space portfolio. The department estimates the reduction in federal office space will generate savings of about $3.9 billion over the next 10 years. However, efforts to right size federal office space achieved less than a 2% reduction from 2019 to 2024, mainly because of a lack of funding.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, supported by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, is mandated to transform surplus federal office properties into affordable housing through the Federal Lands Initiative. The audit found that CMHC was on track to meet the Initiative’s 2027–28 target to secure commitments to build 4,000 new housing units. However, this target is based only on commitments, and the audit found that only 49% of the new units will be ready for occupancy by 2027–28.
The federal government has been slow to reduce office space and cut costs to support hybrid work, and to convert surplus properties into affordable housing. Public Services and Procurement Canada and federal tenants need to accelerate their efforts to reduce the office space they occupy and contribute to increasing stock for housing that is sustainable, accessible, and affordable.
Our final report examined government contracts awarded to GCStrategies Inc., an Ottawa‑based information technology staffing company. From April 2015 to March 2024, 31 federal organizations awarded 106 contracts to GCStrategies.
In this audit, we found that federal organizations frequently disregarded government procurement rules that promote fairness, transparency, and value for Canadians.
For example, federal organizations are responsible for assessing the level of security required for a contract and for verifying that the people doing the work have the necessary security clearance. The audit found that in 21% of contracts examined, organizations lacked documentation to show that they had confirmed security clearances.
The audit also found that federal organizations disregarded government policies that require them to monitor the work performed by contractors. Organizations frequently did not have evidence of who performed the work, what work was completed, or whether the people doing the work had the required experience and qualifications.
The findings in this audit echo those of previous audits, where we found deficiencies in how public servants applied federal procurement rules. There are no recommendations in this report because I don’t believe the government needs more procurement rules. Rather, federal organizations need to make sure that the rules that exist are understood and followed.
Thank you, I appreciate your time and attention. The commissioner and I are now ready to answer your questions.