The changes, introduced as part of a 443-page budget implementation bill tabled Thursday in Parliament, would replace the Navigable Waters Protection Act, first introduced in 1882, with a new Navigation Protection Act covering a list of 97 lakes, 62 rivers and the three oceans on Canada’s coasts.
Transport Minister Denis Lebel suggested that the changes could ease the burden on companies seeking approval on new industrial projects such as oilsands development or mining extraction.
For example, under the existing law, Transport Canada had urged Shell Canada to provide more information about a proposed “diversion” of the Muskeg River for a new oilsands project.
While this process would continue, future project approvals on that river or many others would not be subject to a review under the new law unless Transport Canada expands its list of protected bodies of water.
“All projects that are actually in the middle of the (approval) process must be held to the existing rules,” said Lebel at a news conference. “The day when this new law comes into force, it will be another thing.”
A First Nations group promptly slammed the proposed changes, suggesting that it was giving industry a green light to destroy vital waterways in its community, violating existing treaty rights in Canada.
“I am seriously concerned this is an indication of corruption in our current government,” said Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. “We hope there will be a public outcry that echoes our sentiment. After all, we all share the responsibility to protect mother earth.”
Transport Canada said it was prepared to revise the list, which records the Atlantic Ocean as number 97 on a list of 100 oceans and lakes.
Previous changes introduced to the same law in the last major budget legislation removed pipeline projects from its scope.
Lebel said other environmental laws would still apply to assess potential impacts of projects, but that the changes, endorsed at his news conference by the Federation of Canadian municipalities, would remove excessive administrative delays on minor projects such as boat docks for cottages on lakes.
“Over time, the scope and application of a law that was designed to protect navigation has expanded to the point where it now applies to brooks, streams, ditches,” said Lebel, noting that 80 separate assessments were done for docks on a single lake near Edmonton. “So now, even the most basic foot bridges over small streams still require pages of paperwork, even when the stream is clearly not used for any kind of boating.”
He added that the existing law also slows down the building of bridges and repairs to the old ones.
But Green Party leader Elizabeth May suggested Lebel was misleading Canadians, since previous changes to environmental laws introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government have already largely removed federal environmental oversight on industry.
“The destruction of the Navigable Waters Protection Act and renaming it the Navigation (Protection) Act is part of a consistent pattern of Stephen Harper trying to remove constitutional authorities for the environment,” May said at a news conference. “Harper clearly does not believe the federal government should be responsible for environmental protection. So they are trying to rewrite history.”
But May said the changes would also give the minister more powers to crack down on abandoned vessels in the water.
The legislation would also provide for new fines or penalties for some offenses.
The new budget bill also proposed to make some corrections to its predecessor from the summer, which introduced a new regime for assessing the environmental impacts of industrial development.
A spokesman for Environment Minister Peter Kent said most of the changes were “technical” in nature, along with the correction of a “loophole” that “came to our attention.”
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities also issued a similar statement of support of the federal government’s proposed overhaul of the Fisheries Act last spring, which removed protection of fisheries and gave the government new tools to “authorize” water pollution.
But municipalities in the federation later adopted a motion demanding that the government withdraw the proposed changes for further analysis of the consequences.
The last budget implementation law, adopted in July eliminated about 3,000 federal environmental assessments and was slammed by economists, environmental groups and opposition critics for weakening existing laws.
The previous legislation also gave the government new tools to investigate environmental groups, weaken protection of endangered species and limit public participation in consultations and reviews of proposed industrial projects.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza
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