It’s Getting Hot In Here

Last year, Friends of the Earth Canada (FOE) launched a lawsuit against the Minister of the Environment to hold him accountable for the fact that Canada won’t meet its Kyoto target. Not only the country won’t meet its Kyoto target, but the actual Government didn’t even try.

The lawsuit rests on the fact that the Minister ignored the will of the Parliament by not complying with the requirements set by the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act (KPIA). The KPIA required the Minister of the Environment to release, within 60 days after the Act came into force, so before August 21st, 2007, an environmental plan that would enable Canada to meet its Kyoto target. Obviously, when the KPIA was adopted by the Parliament, I was hoping it would have an impact on the Government. Visibly, it didn’t.

Consequently, when Friends of the Earth launched its lawsuit, I was intrigued and excited, for different reasons. It was mainly about the fact that the “case raises the fundamental question of whether a Minister of the Crown is accountable for ignoring the will of Parliament” because what if he is, in fact, responsible? Wouldn’t it give us arguments and, more importantly, a strong mean of action? Lawsuits have been used for many years by individuals and by the Government against companies and other individuals that broke environmental laws and have been proven to work pretty well, so why not use the same mean against the Government itself! Continue reading ‘Is That Where We Are?’

Let’s face it, Stephen Harper’s government isn’t recognized for being green. Since its arrival at the head of the country, many of its members made infamous declarations that undermined the little credibility it had to start with in the environmental domain.

Last week, the annoucement of a new regulatory framework called Taking Action to Fight Climate Change, that was described by the Conservative Party as containing “though regulation” for different industrial activities includins the tar sands industry, left most people wondering how severe the plan actually is. 

Why isn’t the regulation strict enough? First of all, the Government isn’t backing down on its target: the goal is to reduce GHG emissions by 20% below the 2006 level by 2020. That target will keep Canada away from its Kyoto target, with an excess of 1160 Mt of GHG for the 2008-2012 period.

Secondly, the measure that will affect the bituminous sands industry [editors note: commonly referred to as "oil sands" or "tar sands" ] isn’t going to be effective before many years from now. The measure is going to “require oil sands starting operations in 2012 to implement carbon capture and storage“, and that obligation won’t be effective before 2018. So what the Minister of the Environment tells us, it that the measure won’t affect the giant number of current bituminous sand operations effectively, and that we will have to wait for another 10 years before before we see the regulation being applied!

Continue reading ‘Stephen Harper’s “Though” Regulation, or a Lesson on Procrastination’