Budget Short Changes the Environment

OTTAWA--The federal government continued its attack on environmental protection using the 2010 budget to begin dismantling the Environmental Assessment Agency. Future energy projects will be assessed by the National Energy Board or the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission; agencies with strong ties to the oil and nuclear industries. Last year’s budget claimed the need for speed and the federal government weakened the Environmental Assessment Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act--this year’s budget finished the job of dismantling our environmental safeguards.

"Environmental protection is not red tape. It is essential in preventing environmental and public health disasters like Walkerton. I would have thought John Baird, Tony Clement, and Jim Flaherty would have learned from the unnecessary deaths in Walkerton," said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.

The budget also let the Eco-energy incentive lapse, leaving Canada the only industrialized country with no national program to deploy renewable energy. Nevertheless, the budget did provide subsidies to the oil and gas and coal burning utilities to test unproven carbon storage as clean energy.

"It is hard to accept that our government thinks it can disguise inaction on Climate Change with nice sounding words," said Bennett.

Even on the positive side of the budget the government's goal is to deceive. It announced 8 million dollars for the Great Lakes and $36 million for invasive species. "These amounts are welcome, but they pale in comparison to the U.S.' recent commitment of $2.2 billion over 5 years; the US budget allocates $475 million to cleaning up and protecting the Great Lakes. Canada's investments are a start, but not substantial enough to really make the impact that is needed," said Celeste Côté, National Water Campaigner for Sierra Club Canada.

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Contact:
Michael Bernard
Director of Media Relations
Sierra Club Canada
michaelb@sierraclub.ca
(o) 613.241.4611 x230
(c) 613.302.9933