Groups appeal for end to dismantling of environmental law

OTTAWA — Canada’s environmental assessment law should be reformed
through a scheduled parliamentary review, not weakened through
piecemeal amendments buried in a budget bill, Ecojustice and Sierra
Club Canada said today.

“Parliament should close loopholes in environmental laws, not create
new ones to suit the tar sands and other extractive industries,” said
Stephen Hazell, Ecojustice lawyer. “The Senate Finance Committee has
an opportunity to avoid creating new legal loopholes and prevent
catastrophes such as Deepwater Horizon from happening in Canada.”

Hazell will appear before the Senate National Finance Committee today
on behalf of Ecojustice and Sierra Club Canada to recommend that the
committee remove environmental assessment law changes from Bill C-9,
and instead refer these proposed changes to the House of Commons
Environment Committee for its scheduled review of environmental
assessment law this autumn.

“Stephen Harper and Jim Prentice are dismantling federal environmental
assessment law in much the same way that George Bush dismantled
regulation of the financial services industry and Mike Harris
deregulated control of drinking water supplies,” said John Bennett,
Sierra Club Canada’s executive director. “Does anyone truly believe
that the environmental effects of tar sands, mining and offshore oil
drilling will be assessed properly without vigorous federal
engagement?”

Bill C-9 proposes to permanently eliminate thousands of required
environmental assessments and give the government broad discretion to
reduce the scope of projects subject to the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act. For example, the energy minster could limit the
assessment of a proposed tar sands mine so that the project, for the
purpose of the environmental assessment, is reduced to a stream
crossing — which contradicts the recent Supreme Court Ruling on the
Red Chris Mine.

“The government’s approach is about getting the feds out of
environmental assessment; it is not about reducing overlap and
duplication,” Bennett said. “Duplication of efforts has already been
largely eliminated due to the work of the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Agency and the Major Projects Management Office established
by the Harper government a few years ago."

Bill C-9 is not the first time the Conservative government has used
omnibus budget implementation legislation to weaken federal
environmental assessment. In 2009, amendments to the Navigable Waters
Protection Act (NWPA) granted the government a discretionary authority
to identify what waterways were deemed worthy of federal protection.

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Contacts:

Stephen Hazell
Ecojustice
613-422-1107
stephendhazell@gmail.com

Robb Barnes
Communications Intern
Sierra Club Canada
613-241-4611 x 230