Tag Archives: Gov of Canada

Environment

Bitumen Sinks & Is Almost Impossible to Clean Up

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By Roy L Hales

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Prior to his election as Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau promised that the National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion would not go forward. We need a new review process, which both focuses on science and seeks social license in the areas where projects like this are being suggested. That changed after his election. The hearings resumed and, sometime before May 20, the National Energy Board is expected to recommend the Trans Mountain project be approved. If the Prime Minister agrees, there will be a seven-fold increase of diluted bitument coming through the most populated area of British Columbia. In anticipation of the proposed pipeline, the province of British Columbia is drawing up legislation for “world-leading provincial spills regime.” This is the backdrop for the ECOreport’s Monday, April 11, program on CKTZ:   Bitumen sinks and is almost impossible to clean up.

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Environment

McKenna Made The Wrong Call On Woodfibre LNG

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Though Justin Trudeau promised to fix Canada’s broken environmental assessment process during the last election, yesterday his government gave another signal this may not happen. Catherine McKenna, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change,  announced  “that the proposed Woodfibre LNG Project, located near Squamish, British Columbia, is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Critics point to flaws in the analysis of impacts to herring stocks and the province’s rising emissions, suggesting McKenna Made the wrong call on Woodfibre LNG

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Environment, Indigenous Nations

Will The Feds Intervene On Site C?

By Roy L Hales

The controversial Site C Dam project was rejected twice (back in the 1980s and 90s), before Premier Christy Clark’s government decided to go over the heads of provincial agencies like the BC utilities Commission and Agricultural Land Commission. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government  issued the necessary permits to start construction during the last Federal election. As Treaty 8 gave local First Nations use of the land this project will submerge, it seems likely that a treaty is being broken. Despite all of this, BC Hydro began what many view as the environmental destruction of the Site C Peace River Valley. Since then a new Canadian government has been elected. They spoke of the need for social license and promised a new era of respect for indigenous peoples. Will The Feds Intervene On Site C?

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Politics

How far has the Vancouver Declaration taken us?

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After two days of sometimes heated meetings behind closed door, Canada’s first ministers emerged with an agreement as to their overall goals for a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.  The contentious issues, like carbon pricing mechanisms, emissions caps and oil pipelines, have been left for another First Ministers meeting in the fall. So How far has the Vancouver Declaration taken us?

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