After years of intensely partisan debate over Canada’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change, critics of the government’s environmental policies see few signs of change with Ms. Aglukkaq’s (Nunavut) appointment.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said that the Environment minister’s role has become irrelevant under Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.).
“Nothing changes because Stephen Harper fundamentally doesn’t believe that climate change is an issue that demands any attention except for lip service and public relations,” Ms. May told The Hill Times.
She noted that Ms. Aglukkaq has pushed a “pro-development agenda” since beginning a two-year term as Canada’s chair of the Arctic Council in May.
“She hasn’t put climate on the Arctic Council agenda, but the Arctic Council is primarily countries that are very absorbed with the climate issue,” Ms. May said. “Canada’s approach to the Arctic Council is, ‘As the ice melts, let’s go drill for resources.’”
One of the most pressing issues the new Minister faces is developing new emissions regulations for the oil and gas sector. Former Environment minister Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) had promised to introduce draft regulations by the end of last year before further delaying the new standards to this summer.
Since the July 15 Cabinet shuffle, Ms. Aglukkaq has not made any statements related to her portfolio and was unavailable for an interview. Jennifer Kennedy, the minister’s communications director, declined to comment on when the proposed regulations would be public.
“The government of Canada is continuing to work with other levels of government, industry and stakeholders on new greenhouse gas regulations for the oil and gas sector,” Ms. Kennedy stated in an email. “As the regulations are still being developed, it would be premature to comment further.”
Former Conservative Human Resources minister Monte Solberg, who urged fellow conservatives to embrace environmental stewardship at the Manning Centre Conference in Ottawa last March, praised Ms. Aglukkaq’s latest appointment. He said it was “one of the most important changes” in Cabinet, highlighting Ms. Aglukkaq’s Innu heritage. The new Environment Minister is known for displaying a polar bear rug on the wall of her ministerial office—a gift from one of her nephews who lives in Nunavut.
“She respects the environment but doesn’t romanticize it. She has the potential to strike the balance; yes, we need development, but it must be sustainable,” Mr. Solberg said in a Toronto Sun column. “As an indigenous person, she should have a better chance of getting that message across to aboriginal peoples.”
Ms. Aglukkaq declared the Arctic “open for business” in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in June, but also called for sustainable development in the region. “Development in the Arctic must be done in a responsible and environmentally sustainable manner so that the land, water and animals that many Northerners still depend upon are not negatively impacted,” she said.
Briefing notes prepared for Ms. Aglukkaq ahead of her October 2012 Arctic tour, which The Hill Times obtained through the Access to Information Act, identify northern development as the overarching theme of Canada’s chairing of the Arctic Council. The notes, part of a discussion paper for consultation with Arctic stakeholders, describe natural resource development as “central to the economic future of the circumpolar region.”
“Arctic Council initiatives could be built around and support Canada’s priorities to increase investment and development in the Northern resource sector,” the paper says. “Initiatives should highlight and reinforce Canadian leadership in this area, and engage industry and the business community.”
In an October 2012 interview with The Hill Times, Ms. Aglukkaq, then Health minister, criticized those who oppose polar bear and seal hunting in the Arctic. “The aboriginal groups in the North, the Inuit in particular, are continually fighting animal rights activists that try to stop these types of hunts in the North,” she said. “The fact that people are impacted is not talked about. ... When you make statements that you want to stop the seal hunt, what about the people that depend on it?”
Some environmentalists are concerned that the fact that Ms. Aglukkaq hails from the far North will be used to make the case for more resource development in the Arctic at the environment’s expense.
“I think they appointed this Minister because in the next election they hope to pit northern development against small-l liberal environmentalists who are concerned about the future, and try to divide voters along those lines,” John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, told The Hill Times.
Retired Conservative MP Bob Mills, chair of the House Environment committee from 2006 until 2008, said that while he doesn’t know the new minister, her record to date does not have “a strong environmental bent.”
“I see health and economic issues, but not really environment. I don’t think just because you’re from the North you necessarily know a lot about the environment,” he said.
Mr. Mills, a former member of the now defunct National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, said the government is out of touch with most Canadians when it comes to the environment. “I think there’s a lot of repair work necessary. It would have to be genuine openness,” he said. “An honest, upfront statement by the Prime Minister would go a little ways in helping to mend that.”
Mr. Bennett told The Hill Times that he expected the government to continue reducing federal environmental protections and dismissing the concerns of environmental groups. Mr. Bennett’s organization looked into Ms. Aglukkaq’s statements as MP and Health minister prior to her appointment and found “nothing positive” on the environment.
“That’s a pretty good indication that she’s there to carry on steadfastly working at dismantling Canada’s federal environmental protections one piece at a time,” Mr. Bennett said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had an Environment minister from this government whose job was not to tell environmentalists and Canadians to stop worrying about the environment.”
Ms. Aglukkaq is the sixth Environment Minister in seven years. The post has previously been held by Rona Ambrose (Edmonton-Spruce Grove, Alta.), John Baird (Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont.) twice, former Conservative MP Jim Prentice, and Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.).
Cabinet committee changes suggest that the environment will continue to have a marginal role in government planning.
Mr. Harper dropped “sustainable growth” from the Cabinet committee tasked with crafting environmental policy. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Prosperity and Sustainable Growth is now simply the Economic Prosperity Committee. Its mandate still includes “sustainable development ... as well as environment and energy security,” but Ms. Aglukkaq does not sit on that committee. She now serves on the Operations and Social Affairs Cabinet committees, neither of which focuses on environmental issues.
The Hill Times contacted the Prime Minister’s Office about the reason for the renaming of the committee, but did not receive a response.
Conservative strategist Tim Powers, vice-chair of Summa Strategies, cautioned not to “read too much” into the Cabinet committee’s renaming and Ms. Aglukkaq’s absence from that committee. “Just because a committee is called something doesn’t mean that its sole focus will be its title,” said Mr. Powers. “The realities of government are very different—all of the things that you would think [ought] to be considered, are.”
But Mr. Bennett welcomed the decision to rename the committee, and said that it was a more accurate reflection of the government’s agenda. “They’ve dropped the masquerade,” he said. “If you’re going to build your economy around fossil fuels, sustainability has no meaning whatsoever in economic development in the country. Dropping the name may be just a little twinkling of honesty in them.”
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: Chris Plecash
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