Moved second reading of Bill S-206, An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act (use of wood).

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-206, An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act (use of wood).

This bill may be familiar to most of you because I sponsored its previous incarnation when it came to us from the other place in the Forty-second Parliament. The bill is straightforward; it amends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act by stipulating that:

In developing requirements with respect to the construction, maintenance or repair of public works, federal real property or federal immovables, the Minister shall consider any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and any other environmental benefits and may allow the use of wood or any other thing — including a material, product or sustainable resource — that achieves such benefits.

In brief, the legislation requires that when the government is building or refurbishing publicly owned property that it consider using wood as a material and that the comparative carbon footprint of materials be considered.

I’ve seen first-hand that engineered wood can be used in the construction of buildings. Two years ago, our Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry travelled to British Columbia. We had the opportunity to visit Brock Commons, an 18-storey student residence on the UBC campus. It’s a beautiful structure, and it exemplifies some of the best qualities of engineered wood buildings.

Engineered wood structures sequester carbon. The production of engineered wood beams is less intensive than concrete or steel, and the carbon within the wood is stored for the life of the building. Given that buildings account for approximately 50% of carbon emissions, adopting this technology more widely could help us meet our GHG emission targets.

Engineered wood structures can be erected quickly. British Columbia’s forestry Crown corporation notes that, using a crew of nine, the mass timber construction of Brock Commons Tallwood House was completed less than 70 days after the prefabricated components arrived on the site. Also, using wood supports the Canadian forest industry, which has suffered in the face of large duties from our neighbours. A healthy forestry industry means more jobs for forestry workers in rural Canada.

This is an area in which the federal government can really lead the way. This legislation would require that the use of wood be considered when building, maintaining or repairing federally owned buildings. Being considered is the largest hurdle for the adoption of this technology. Too often, building with engineered wood is dismissed because of fears about fires. But as Caroline Delbert explained for Popular Mechanics last month:

If a building is made with a solid wooden structure, it isn’t consumed by fire the same way plywood is, for example. Plywood has flammable glue, making it more vulnerable than solid wood. Medium density fiberboard (MDF) and oriented strand board (OSB) are both also pretty flammable. But solid wood tends to burn on the outside while the inside remains untouched, like trying to start a campfire by throwing in only solid logs.

As the largest procurer in Canada, the federal government’s use of engineered wood in even a handful of projects could begin to turn the tide. As architect Michael Green told the Natural Resources Committee in the other place in 2017:

. . . it’s really, again, just an emotional shift that has to happen to embrace the science we already know.

Other countries, including France, Finland and the Netherlands, have similar legislation in place. In Canada, the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec passed legislation to support the construction of engineered wood buildings in 2009. Other provinces are coming on board. Less than a month ago, Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, Kaycee Madu, announced that Alberta would now allow wood building construction for up to 12 storeys. He noted that:

Not only will this decision support the forestry industry and land developers, it will provide affordability to home buyers, bolster employment and give Alberta a competitive advantage.

In Ontario, builders are seeing the potential of using engineered wood. A 10-storey building is in the works at George Brown College, and other developers are using mass-timber construction technology in order to make their projects more sustainable and larger.

As John Lorinc reported in The Globe and Mail earlier this month, because of the thinner, stronger floors that engineered wood allows, developers at a project in downtown Toronto were able to make use of a policy tool in the Ontario Building Code called the alternative solutions process. Although the project exceeded the building code by two storeys, the developer was able to demonstrate that, by using this technology, the building will perform as well as the minimums described in the code. They were therefore able to have their project approved.

Colleagues will know that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released a report on value-added agriculture and how we can support that industry’s growth. Engineered wood construction presents a huge opportunity for value-added forestry growth for both domestic and international markets. There is a huge amount of untapped potential in the sector.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director Emeritus of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, from a press release issued last month:

Trees offer us a technology of unparalleled perfection. They take CO2 out of our atmosphere and smoothly transform it into oxygen for us to breathe and carbon in their trunks for us to use. There’s no safer way of storing carbon I can think of. Societies have made good use of wood for buildings for many centuries, yet now the challenge of climate stabilization calls for a very serious upscaling. If we engineer the wood into modern building materials and smartly manage harvest and construction, we humans can build ourselves a safe home on Earth.

Thank you, colleagues.

May I ask a question of Senator Griffin?

Certainly.

Senator Griffin, I would first like to congratulate you for the leadership you are taking in this venture, because I believe it’s the right thing at the right time. I look at previous Senate reports that have been tabled here in the house — one in 2009 — and I look at the number of senators sitting in the chamber who are still around — Senators Duffy, Mercer, Munson, and also the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Don Plett. One report is entitled The Canadian Forest Sector: Past, Present and Future, and another is entitled The Canadian Forest Sector: A Future Based on Innovation. That’s why I said to Senator Griffin that the leadership is now.

I have a question for you that relates to follow-ups and to a step in the right direction. Senator, could you explain to the Senate of Canada what benefits this bill will have for Atlantic Canada, as well as from coast to coast to coast?

Thank you for your question, Senator Mockler.

This bill will have tremendous benefits for Atlantic Canada. You’ll be interested to hear that when we were talking about this a number of months ago, I had a discussion with a very senior owner of the forest industry in New Brunswick, someone well-known to you. The advantage was immediately obvious in terms of what this would mean for forestry in Atlantic Canada and, as you rightly point out, everywhere else in the country.

In Atlantic Canada we have many privately owned woodlots, as well as Crown land. It is important for the private sector in terms of both ownership and production. In the Atlantic region, we have many people who are involved with the rural economy. We have woods people in Nova Scotia now who are very concerned about what is happening with the Northern Pulp mill. The onus is on us, as legislators, to do everything we can to encourage that industry and to encourage the health of rural Canada.

One other thing I can add in that regard is that there has been discussion in your home province about possibly having a similar bill go through the provincial legislature. I know they are a little busy with other things these days, but there has been discussion. At the national level, we have the opportunity to provide inspirational encouragement for not only the New Brunswick government but also for the other Atlantic provinces. Thank you for your question.