Now that all the election promises have been made, the votes have been cast, the people have had their say and a new federal government is about to take over in Ottawa, it will be interesting to see just what this new (Liberal) government plans on doing about the environment – especially some of the environmental changes made by the previous (Conservative) government. One can only wonder what can and cannot be undone.
The Liberal Party platform has taken a strong stance when it comes to environmental issues, the war on science, the use of fossil fuels and global warming/climate change.
In addition to unmuzzling scientists, the Liberals have stated that they also want to work collaboratively with the provinces, First Nations and other stakeholders when it comes to ocean management.
Although the Liberal Party doesn’t have a specific plan yet, the party has promised “to establish a new climate change framework by February 2016 that includes an eventual phase out of fossil fuel subsidies. The plan will also include investment in climate resilience, clean technology and low-carbon infrastructure.” They have also promised to “establish new, credible reviews for proposed development that are comprehensive, consider full and cumulative impacts, including upstream impacts like development in the oil sands, as well as greenhouse gas emissions.”
However, actions speak louder than words and we shall see what comes to fruition.
At times it seemed as though the previous Conservative government was determined to eliminate pretty well any and all protection of the environment.
Much of this was accomplished through the inclusion of changes to acts (designed to protect the environment) that were buried deep within the bowels of the omnibus bills which had to be passed in their entirety.
A perfect example of this were amendments and changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act – introduced and passed under the guise of rescuing the economy.
The Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA), Chapter N-22, is a federal law designed to protect the public’s right of navigation in Canadian waters, as defined by the law, by prohibiting the building, placing or maintaining of any work whatsoever in, on, over, under, through or across any such navigable water, without the authorization of the Minister of Transport Canada.
In amending the act, not only was the government attempting to eliminate the public’s navigational rights on thousands of waterways across Canada, they were also eliminating such things as any obligation on the part of industry and developers to consider the impact any new project may have on navigable waterways when building such things as roads, bridges, causeways, dams, or any other invasive structures on, through, and/or around the waters they may cross, cause to change, or affect.
The government (Transport Canada) tried to achieve this by exempting the phrases “minor waters” and “minor works” from the Navigable Waters Protection Act and, by re-defining the word “navigation” under the act in a way that would strip all legal protection from recreational navigation.
The rewriting of the Navigable Waterways Protection Act was a direct assault on Canada’s tradition of river travel and the future of our waterways, by the same people who were supposed to protect both.
What will our new Liberal government do to undo what the previous government has done?
