New Parliamentary Critics that Matter Most for Nature

The new official opposition today unveiled its shadow cabinet, the team of members of parliament who will each focus on a specific area of responsibility in their role of keeping the federal government accountable. We recently highlighted the 8 key ministers that play the most important roles in nature conservation. Similarly new shadow cabinet includes 8 critics with key portfolios that matter most for nature. They are:

• Megan Leslie, Environment
• Linda Duncan, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
  
• Fin Donnelly, Fisheries and Oceans
  
• Romeo Saganash, Natural Resources
  
• Jack Harris, National Defence
• Hélène Laverdière, International Co-operation
  
• Peggy Nash, Finance
• Alexandre Boulerice, Treasury Board

Nature Canada looks forward to working with these critics and all MPs in the House to promote effective federal government action to protect wildlife, preserve natural areas, prevent environmental disasters, and lead Canadian conservation.

New Cabinet Ministers, New Opportunities for Nature?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed his new cabinet today in what is the most extensive cabinet shuffle of the past few years. The most notable appointments in terms of their impact on nature conservation in Canada are:

• Peter Kent continues as Minister of the Environment
• John Duncan remains Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
  
• Keith Ashfield becomes Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
  
• Joe Oliver becomes Minister of Natural Resources
  
• Peter MacKay remains Minister of Defence
• Bev Oda continues as Minister of International Co-operation
  
• Jim Flaherty remains Minister of Finance
• Tony Clement moves to President of the Treasury Board
  

So why are all these Ministers particularly important for nature conservation in Canada? Here is a quick snapshot:

Environment: This Minister oversees Ministry of the Environment, the Parks Canada Agency,and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Responsibilities include protecting wildlife like endangered species and migratory birds, preserving natural areas like national parks and national wildlife areas, and preventing environmental disasters like oil spills and climate change. This Minister will have the opportunity to lead Canadian conservation.

Indian and Norther Affairs Canada: This department exerts control over land-use decisions in Canada's northern territories (Nunavut, NWT, and Yukon). This includes everything from the establishment of parks and other protected areas to proposals for offshore drilling proposed in our precious arctic.

Fisheries and Oceans: The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible for much of what Canada does to conserve our oceans, lakes, and rivers. This includes establishing marine protected areas and protected aquatic species at risk. This is the Minister who can stop the growing practice of dumping mining waste into lakes and rivers.

Natural Resources Canada: This department leads federal policy on energy, mining, and forestry. With this comes an important role in the federal government's responsibility to protect wildlife, preserve natural areas, and prevent environmental disasters.

Defence: The Department of National Defence is one of the federal government's most significant land managers. This Minister will have to make some important decisions about activities that affect wildlife and natural ecosystems, most notably a proposal to drill more than a thousand gas wells in the National Wildlife Area located within Canadian Forces Base Suffield.

International Co-operation: Oversees the Canadian International Development Agency which, among other things, supports international development projects including some that benefit nature in the developing world, including our "Canadian" birds while they overwinter elsewhere in the Americas.

Finance: We have often said that the federal government's budget is one of its most important policy documents affecting conservation. It determines whether or not all the other departments have the resources they need to fulfill their conservation obligations.

Treasury Board: This is the "central agency" that controls the spending and performance of the other departments. This Minister plays a central role in managing the size of the federal public service. It will be important for this Minister to recognize the need for an appropriate workforce for the public service to fulfill the federal government's responsibilities to protect wildlife, preserve natural areas, prevent environmental disasters, and lead Canadian conservation.

Nature Canada congratulates all members of the new cabinet on their appointments. We look forward to working with the key Ministers and their staff to advance nature conservation in Canada.

Two years later: Canada still silent on gas drilling in National Wildlife Area

Today marks the two year anniversary of the release of recommendations of the Joint Review Panel assessing a proposal by EnCana Corporation (now Cenovus) to drill 1,275 shallow gas wells in the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Suffield National Wildlife Area. As we have done previously, the Suffield Coalition today wrote a letter to the Ministers of Defence and Environment to inquire about the government’s response to the Panel report, which we still await two years later.

The Suffield Coalition comprises seven groups who actively participated in the Joint Review Panel process. The members are: Alberta Wilderness Association, Nature Alberta (formerly Federation of Alberta Naturalists), World Wildlife Fund Canada, Nature Saskatchewan, Southern Alberta Group for the Environment, Grasslands Naturalists, and Nature Canada.

In today's letter we once again called on the federal government to close the door to any further industrial development in CFB Suffield National Wildlife Area and to ensure the long term conservation of Suffield as one of the most important areas of native grasslands remaining in North America.

Two years ago the Suffield Coalition concurred with the Panel’s findings that the Cenovus/EnCana project would likely interfere with the conservation of wildlife, the core purpose of the National Wildlife Area. As the Panel pointed out, avoiding such interference is a requirement of the Wildlife Area Regulations. We therefore believe that federal permits to proceed with additional drilling in the NWA under the Wildlife Area Regulations or the Species at Risk Act should be denied.

In their Report, the Panel recognized the importance of the NWA as one of the few large blocks of dry mixed-grass prairie remaining in Canada, and that the NWA was created to protect the ecological integrity of this land and the species that occupy it, including at least 15 species listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern under the Species at Risk Act.

Sixteen of the Panel's 27 recommendations are prefaced by “should the project proceed”. They demonstrate the considerable challenges and uncertainties involved in mitigating the risk of significant adverse effects from the proposed drilling as well as from current activities on sensitive soils, native grassland, wetlands, ungulate winter range, five species of snakes and fifteen species at risk. Taking the risk implied within these recommendations is not appropriate within a National Wildlife Area. We believe it is not in the public interest to approve the project.

The other 11 Panel recommendations are designed to address major deficiencies in environmental management within the NWA and CFB Suffield overall, whether or not the project proceeds. These recommendations include working with stakeholders like the Suffield Coalition. We are ready, willing, and able to help. But we await a response from the federal government.