NDP’s Megan Leslie says emails confirm “ideological hack-job” at Environment Canada

OTTAWA-The NDP’s deputy leader Megan Leslie says it’s no surprise that budget cuts at Environment Canada are having an impact on the enforcement of environmental regulations, given how “hastily” the cuts were done.

Reponding to a Postmedia report about internal emails exchanged between environmental enforcement officers across the country, Leslie said the correspondence calls into question the government’s capacity to maintain good air quality in Canada’s cities.

Enforcement officers wrote in the emails that they didn’t have adequate capacity to enforce existing or new regulations in the absence of a team of emissions research specialists that was dismantled by the government as part of budget cuts. The government has estimated it would save about $600,000 per year after dismantling the team.

Leslie said the apparent impacts of the cuts are ironic given that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government describes itself as a champion of clean air.

“I have wondered why the government refuses to lay out their plan for their cuts, but reading these emails, it’s clear to me that they don’t have a plan,” said Leslie, a Halifax MP who is also the NDP’s environment critic. “The government’s clean air mandate has clearly been compromised by their ideological hack-job of federal scientific capacity.”

Environment Minister Peter Kent has referred questions about the cuts to his department, saying through a spokeswoman that he has no role in the enforcement decision-making process.

Environment Canada has not yet responded to questions from Postmedia News last Friday about the concerns raised by its enforcement officers and potential impacts on emerging regulations expected to be introduced for the oil and gas sector.

Environmental enforcement officers also said in the emails that other government agencies, including the City of Montreal, relied on the team of specialists for many existing and emerging regulations.

“After the dismantlement of (the) group, I received calls from the representatives of the city of Montreal air emission control group voicing their concerns,” wrote an enforcement officer in one of the emails, exchanged on December 6, 2012.

A spokeswoman for the city said it has not yet made any formal request to Environment Canada, but confirmed that it has a division in charge of industrial waste that consulted the team of specialists.

“The expertise in monitoring atmospheric pollution is complimentary to our own in certain aspects and we hope to continue this cooperation,” said city of Montreal spokeswoman Valérie De Gagné.

Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza