Environment Canada on chopping block, Elizabeth May says

Environment Canada on chopping block, Elizabeth May says

Postby Oscar » Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:19 pm

Environment Canada on chopping block, Elizabeth May says

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le7997348/ ]

GLORIA GALLOWAY OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jan. 29 2013, 11:43 PM EST

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says senior sources who would lose their jobs if they went public have told her that the Conservative government is planning to eliminate the federal environment department and merge any remaining functions with Natural Resources Canada. The government categorically denied the suggestion.

Ms. May asked the government about the rumour at the end of the daily Question Period on Tuesday. “If it had not been from credible sources, I would not be putting this question to you,” she told the Commons. “I would like assurances that no such plan is under consideration.”

But if Ms. May was hoping to hear that her sources were mistaken, her fears were not allayed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “I would be delighted to meet any of these credible sources and to correct any misinformation that may have been given the honourable member,” was Mr. Harper’s brief reply.

Ms. May deemed that to be a “non-answer.”

Andrew MacDougall, Mr. Harper’s spokesman, later said via the social networking site Twitter that “Environment Canada is not being merged with another department. Full stop.”

But Ms. May said the reports she is receiving from multiple and well-connected sources do not strain credulity given the government’s recent moves to reduce its involvement in issues pertaining to the environment. Omnibus budget bills have significantly cut the federal role in environmental assessments, eliminated protection of fish habitats, and limited the number of lakes and rivers covered under the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

“I knew I was going out on a limb to ask the question in Question Period,” Ms. May said in a telephone interview. “But when I have sources that are well-placed and well-informed, I would rather that people know that this is being considered and that it gets shot down early. I don’t want to be fighting it once it is in an omnibus bill. We know how that goes.”

Under the Harper government, there has been a systematic destruction of environmental laws at the federal level and the department’s scientific and regulatory abilities have been scaled back, Ms. May said.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
environment-canada-on-chopping-block-elizabeth-may-says/article7997348/
Oscar
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