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SCC > Vote-Canada 2008 > Election Survey

2008 Election Survey

Sierra Club Canada and Greenpeace Canada submitted their 2008 election survey on environment issues to the five federally funded political parties. The grid below summarizes responses received from the parties. The text of the parties full responses can be read by selecting the links which appear below the grid.

In a number of instances, parties chose to qualify or not directly answer survey questions. Those answers where a direct yes or no response was not given are recorded as Details.

You can read the parties' comments included with their responses by clicking on each answer.

Party Responses to Questions	Bloc	Conservative	Green	Liberal	NDP
1) Climate and Energy KYOTOplus Will your party support the KYOTOplus objectives and targets for reductions in emissions?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
2) Climate and Energy Nuclear Phaseout Will your party support a comprehensive plan with a firm timeline for the phase-out of nuclear power in Canada?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
3) Climate and Energy Nuclear Subsidies Will your party end subsidies to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and refuse to provide Ontario with subsidies to purchase the Advanced Candu Reactor?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
4) Climate and Energy Alberta Tar Sands Will your party support a moratorium on new Tar Sands projects?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
5) Food and Agriculture Genetically Engineered Food Will your party propose legislated mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods in the next parliament and agree to an immediate moratorium on the approval of all new GE crops and foods until the government’s procedure for GE risk assessment has been reviewed and strengthened to meet strict scientific standards based on the precautionary principle?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
6) Oceans National Marine Reserves Will your party support the creation of a representative network of Marine Protected Areas including 25% in Marine Reserves (no-take zones) in Canadian waters by 2012, and support a long-term goal of putting aside 40% of the international high seas in Marine Reserves?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
7) Water National Water Policy Will your party develop a comprehensive Canada-wide water strategy in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments, First Nations, and community organizations by 2010, including a Sustainable Water Act that will conserve water through such measures as national appliance water efficiency standards, enhanced prohibitions on bulk water exports, and legally-binding federal standards for drinking-water quality and sewage treatment?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
8) Water Preserving Natural Lakes Will your party protect Canada’s lakes and groundwater sources by working to ensure that no more lakes end up on the MMERs list under Schedule 2 of the Fisheries Act?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
9) Biodiversity Species at Risk Will your party support accelerating the implementation of the Species at Risk Act by implementing, by 2009, recovery strategies and action plans that identify and protect habitat for all species listed before 2008?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
10) Biodiversity Wild Spaces Is your party committed to: • support a significant increase in the amount of protected areas in Canada, especially in large intact forests such as the Canadian Boreal Forest and Arctic ecosystems by establishing interconnected networks of protected areas and implementing regional land-use plans before approving any large- scale industrial projects, including the Mackenzie Gas Project and new Tar Sands expansion. • By 2009, announce a funded plan to complete and manage Canada’s network of National Parks, National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
11) Toxic Pollution Health and the Environment Will your party work in Parliament to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) to implement the recommendations of the April 2007 all-party report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development? This includes placing the onus on companies to show that chemicals are safe, rather than the current onus on government to demonstrate harm, and requiring prompt and meaningful action to limit human exposure to a substance when scientific evidence shows it to be toxic.	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
12) Toxic Pollution Air Pollution Will your party be prepared to, by 2008, set national and regional emissions reduction targets for harmful pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter, based on stringent air-quality standards that protect both the environment and human health, especially the health of vulnerable populations?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
13) Democracy Environmental Bill of Rights Will your party support the passage of an Environmental Bill of Rights that would: establish the right of citizens to a healthy environment; establish a duty of public trust on the part of the federal government to manage and protect the environment for the benefit of current and future generations; allow Canadians to take action against the federal government for any breach of its public trust duty; guarantee reasonable access to environmental information so that citizens make informed decisions; establish a right for citizens to participate in environmental decision-making?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
14) Sustainable Economy Putting a Price on Carbon Will your party institute carbon pricing through carbon taxes and/or a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions and use the proceeds to finance further actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting low-income Canadians and immediately shortening the phase-out period for the accelerated capital cost allowance for the tar-sands industry?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
15) Sustainable Economy Nuclear Liability Will your party support a Nuclear Accountability Plan that includes legislation requiring full cost accounting of nuclear energy; fully shifts the liability and cost of insurance for nuclear power and long term waste disposal facilities onto electricity rates; and eliminates all direct and indirect taxpayer subsidies to nuclear energy?	Details	No response given	Details	Details	Details
	Bloc	Conservative	Green	Liberal	NDP

Full text of responses to the SCC 2008 Election Survey

Bloc Québécois
Conservative Party of Canada - did not respond
Green Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
New Democratic Party of Canada

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