Dear Stephen Harper (Prime Minister of Canada),
The other day I was driving in my car, listening to my favourite radio station, and was surprised to hear an ad come on proclaiming to the Canadian masses all the good things your government has done for the environment. First of all I don't know why a government should have to have ads to promote itself, but that's a whole other issue. The ad said that the government is introducing tough new laws to strengthen the environment. My immediate reaction: WHAAAAT?! as I almost crashed while wanting to scream at the radio.
I couldn't believe my freaking ears. I was totally outraged at the blatant lies in the ad! I've spent 8 years working for your Environment department, I have seen first hand the changes you have made. And by 'changes' I mean total destruction!
I worked for many years under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act as an EA coordinator, reviewing projects and helping them minimize their impacts to wildlife, birds and species at risk. When you 'strengthened' this Act last year, you made sure it only applied to mega-projects which appear
on the 'list', with only certain factors to be assessed, and limited
participation from the public. But sometimes even the small projects can have a big impact! For example, I remember one project which involved building a boardwalk on a beach where there were endangered Piping Plover nesting. With the changes you made to the Act last year, that type of small scale project and thousands more like it will be able to proceed with no assessment of effects at all.
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| Please don't build boardwalks over our nest!! |
You also pushed through changes to the Fisheries Act, which used to be one of our strongest laws protecting the environment. It was so strong because it protected not only all fish, but also fish habitat. This forced anyone wanting to impact fish habitat to compensate for those intended changes, resulting in a no net loss of fish habitat. Doesn't that sound great, Canada should have maintained a healthy level of fish habitat in perpetuity. Not any more. Under the new Act, all mention of habitat has been removed, and the protection of actual fish species is limited to those of recreational and commercial importance. Thus totally ignoring the intrinsic ecological value of all other species and allowing habitats to be disturbed with no consequences. What a major step backwards in our environmental legislation in Canada, not to mention a huge blow for fish and rivers.
As if that wasn't disturbing enough, you also severly weakened the protection offered to rivers in the Navigable Waters Protection Act. This Act used to protect tens of thousands of waterbodies throughout our country. In typical Canadian fashion, any waterbody big enough to float a canoe in was protected. However, there is now a list of only 97 lakes, 62 rivers and the three oceans that the Act applies to. Thank you for making it that much easier to bulldoze, build bridges, pipelines and roads in our formerly clean waterways.
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| The future of our rivers |
Last week I also read a news story that uncovered evidence that the changes you made to the Fisheries Act were directly linked to the wishes of industry. Not surprisingly, Harper's Natural Resources Minister made these comments: "Our natural resource industries — energy, mining and minerals
processing and forest — account for more than 10 percent of our gross
domestic product and provide close to 800,000 jobs in Canada. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that Canada has the right
conditions in place to attract global investment in our provinces and
territories. The time is now for Canada’s immense
resources. Canada must compete with other resource-rich countries around
the world for these job-creating investment dollars." Clearly when he speaks about the "right conditions" for investors, he means not worrying about the fish in that river you need to build a bridge across, and doing the minimum analysis of other potential effects to the environment. Because the environment doesn't matter when you have money!!?? Right?!
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| This sums up my thoughts on the issue quite nicely. |
Another part of the radio ad said that you have increased environmental monitoring in the Alberta oil sands. While that is true, it has been at the expense of other environmental programs across the country! For example, the environmental emergencies staff you cut last year, who are the ones who would respond when an inevitable oil spill does happen!
The final straw for me happened when you enacted the Bridge to
Strengthen Trade Act, exempting a major bridge project from Canada to
the US from requiring certain permits, approvals or authorizations
under a number of federal laws. Basically giving the project an
automatic green light in the name of economic development. I had worked
on the species at risk and migratory bird issues of this project for 2
years, along with many others at my work. How demoralizing is it to be
told at the last minute that all your work was pretty much worthless
since the bridge would go ahead regardless. At least in this case the EA
and species at risk work had largely already been done, but I fear for a
future where this type of exemption from environmental legal
requirements is normal. You have set a dangerous precedent!
To make the whole situation even worse, I've read reports that your ad campaign has cost tax payers over $100 million. Think about what good things we could do with that much money!!! What a total waste! At a minimum it should be used for salary or research dollars for the department of fisheries or environment that you have deeply cut, instead of brainwashing the masses into thinking you are environmentally friendly.
The bottom line is, globally we have reached the point where we can no longer go on exploiting the natural environment for the sake of economic gain. It's time to start working with nature instead of exploiting it.
Sincerely,
Someone who cares
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| Tree hugger and proud of it. |
Come on Canada, we can't stand for this! Now is your chance to
tell the government you want your tax dollars to support programs that protect nature. Sign the petition at this link:
http://action2.davidsuzuki.org/nature_and_democracy
It takes literally 30 seconds. Do it!
