By: Suzanne Elston, Straight Goods environment reporter
OTTAWA: The Government of Canada has failed to live up to many of its promises to protect the environment, according to a leaked document jointly drafted by the Office of the Auditor General and Commissioner of The Environment and Sustainable Development.
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"Environment Canada's enforcement program continues to be a cause of significant concern." |
The draft report, expected to be released later this month, says only five percent of the recommendations to protect the environment made in previous audits have been fully addressed. The draft document is also critical of the lack of government action particularly regarding hazardous waste, enforcement and environmental assessment.
The report states: "We are not satisfied with the progress that federal departments have made in addressing … the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste. Canada is still not in a position to know the extent to which it is fulfilling its international obligations to prevent illegal traffic of hazardous waste at the border and does not have an action plan to address significant gaps."
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"Organized crime related environmental crime, particularly in the improper storage or disposal of hazardous waste, is assessed as second only to illicit drugs in impact on Canada." |
Of particular concern is Environment Canada's failure to make significant progress in preventing the illegal traffic of hazardous wastes entering or leaving Canada. According to the document, there has been little or no improvement in many enforcement related activities.
"Environment Canada's enforcement program continues to be a cause of significant concern," states the report. "Environment Canada was unable to provide reliable data of inspection activities at the border."
Trafficking in hazardous waste is big business in Canada. A 1998 Organized Crime Impact Study, prepared for the Solicitor General, stated, "OC (organized crime) related environmental crime, particularly in the improper storage or disposal of hazardous waste, is assessed as second only to illicit drugs in impact on Canada."
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"Environment Canada still has a very limited intelligence infrastructure." |
The leaked A-G report concludes: "Environment Canada still has a very limited intelligence infrastructure."
Lack of progress in dealing effectively with these issues is the direct result of inadequate funding and insufficient staffing, says Paul Muldoon, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
"The findings of this report reconfirm that you can pick most federal programs and find that there is a chronic under capacity to deliver on its environmental protection initiatives," says Muldoon. "Environment Canada has failed to provide Customs with critical information. It has also failed to take the recommended leadership in developing a joint operations approach that would utilize the existing resources in Customs Border Services, the RCMP and other government agencies.
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According to Muldoon, the environment has not been a priority since 1995 when Environment Canada's funding was cut by 30 percent.
The Auditor General's Report echoes yet another report prepared by the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development in 1998.
That committee found that, while 73 percent of Canadians choose environmental protection over economic progress, the money isn't there to support the necessary action. The Committee concluded, "One major impediment concerns the lack of both human and financial resources to meet the challenges of an ever-increasing workplace."
The one area that did receive good marks from the Auditor General was the progress that has been made on protecting the ozone layer. According to the A-G, "Canada continues to meet its international phase-out and financial obligations and, with the provinces, maintains a national program for the recovery and recycling of ODS (ozone depleting substances).
The Federal Environmental Assessment Agency also received some acknowledgement for the steps that it has taken. However, it was also criticized by the Auditor General for failing to make any substantial progress.
"Canada is still not in a position to know the extent to which it is fulfilling its international obligations to prevent illegal traffic of hazardous waste at the border and does not have an action plan to address significant gaps." |
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While the Auditor General is satisfied with the overall progress being made to protect natural species in this country, the report noted that there is still no federal implementation plan for biodiversity. "This means that the strategy to implement the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity signed by Canada in 1992 is not happening", said Paul Muldoon.
"Clearly Canada is behind the eight-ball in living up to its commitment to the Convention", he added.
Suzanne Elston is a syndicated newspaper columnist, radio commentator and motivational speaker, but considers being a parent her most important job. Her most recently published work is a contribution to Sweeping the Earth: Women Taking Action for a Healthy Planet. Along with her husband Brian and their three wonderful children, she lives in their the family's 1827 farmhouse. Suzanne can be contacted at selston@tvo.org. Suzanne's Straight Goods column appears bi-weekly.
Get More/Do More
E-mail the Hon. David Anderson, Minister of the Environment, at Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca and ask that funding for environmental enforcement be made a priority for his Ministry.
To find out what Environment Canada IS doing to protect our environment, go to www.ec.gc.ca.
For highlights of the 1998 Organized Crime Impact Study go to www.sgc.gc.ca/epub/EPollist.htm#1998.
For further information about the Canadian Environmental Law Association, go to www.cela.net.
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