The budget(s) and the environment

There are times when I just get tired of being angry/upset at politicians who seem to delight at being either incompetent or so narrow minded that they can’t see the damage they are doing. And while it might appear to the casual reader that I unfairly “pick” upon the Conservatives in office in Ottawa ( it is not unfair if they are the ones making all of the mistakes), the Liberals in Queen’s Park are not doing much better. Specifically both of the recent budgets that have been delivered by the respective finance ministers have dealt a potential blow to Canada’s already inadequate environmental protection law. I just can't stop myself from wanting to scream at someone.

I have to assume that neither Dwight Duncan from Ontario nor Jim Flaherty from Ottawa had a conversation last week with each other before they tabled their budgets. However it would appear that they, in spite of the fact that are from different political parties and would argue that they are light years apart, had exactly the same message. Quite simply, according to both Finance Ministers, the environmental review process is too slow, unwieldy, cumbersome and expensive. It needs to be streamline, shortened and made both simpler and faster. Both parties swear that the proposed changes will not have any effect upon the environment. They all promise that that they will ensure that our environment will continue to be protected (italic are mine).

What is remarkable is that both governments announced the changes by including the announcement in the budget! This is a rather clever strategy both because they will be less noticed and more importantly that there will be virtually no discussion or input from the public as to what the changes are, who is going to design the new system, or the potential impact upon the environment.

To be fair, the Conservatives were far less sneaky about wanting these changes. But then they have a majority and apparently that means that they can do what they want. In fact that have been very blatant about what they want – it is clear that they would prefer to have no environmental reviews at all. It would appear that they believe what is good for the oil companies’ (and other resource extractors) is good for Canada. To ensure that this happens they are about to make it very difficult for not-for-profit environmental agencies to advocate politically for their causes – but the obscenity of that is fodder for another blog.

I can appreciate that environmental reviews are expensive and time consuming for companies. I can understand that they have millions of dollars tied up while they go through the various processes. If I were a major resource developer I would want to have easy and quick access to the raw materials in the ground. I would also, I suspect, do all that I could to influence the government to make my life easier. That is all understandable. I don’t agree with that perspective that says we humans have dominion over the earth and therefore we can rape it at will. But I understand it.

I can even understand people who are in office wanting to stay in office. I know of  the importance of finding a balance between people’s values. But for the life of me, I can’t understand anyone being prepared to allow things to happen, knowing the danger to the people and to the land. (Does anyone really believe that the newest proposed pipeline won’t at some point develop a problem and spill raw crude on the ground?) It is a fundamental betrayal of the people who elected them and the land that supports them.