Almost 20 years ago West Coast Environmental Law was on the forefront of pressing the Canadian government to adopt the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA).  The Act was precedent setting – requiring government decisions to be viewed through the lens of sustainability.

West Coast is proud to have played a key role in the creation of CEAA, and we’re proud to be playing a key role in defending it now that the current Canadian government seems intent on gutting key aspects of CEAA.  As we’ve reported, hidden deep inside the 2010 budget bill are a series of amendments to CEAA aimed at giving the Minister of Environment political discretion to avoid conducting more detailed environmental assessments and at exempting a wide range of government funded projects (such as those that receive stimulus funding) from the requirements of CEAA. 

West Coast Environmental Law has been working closely with our allies in the Environmental Assessment and Planning Caucus of the Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) to develop a response to this sneaky and undemocratic attack on CEAA. 

• West Coast’s Environmental Law Alert blog post, “Good Environmental Laws require a government that’s not afraid of Public Debate,” by Andrew Gage, has been identified as a key communications piece.  We co-authored, with Stephen Hazell of Ecojustice, a backgrounder for the Sierra Club of Canada based on our blog post.  We are currently in the process of co-authoring several opinion pieces with regional environmental groups for publication in local papers across the country, so that Canadians become aware of what our federal government is doing. 
• West Coast lawyer Josh Paterson has created a Facebook Page for individuals and groups that are concerned about this secretive attack on CEAA: Save Canada’s Environmental Laws.  With nearly 600 members and growing, we hope that this page can help generate opposition to the amendments to CEAA.  If you’re on Facebook, please join. 
• Josh has also been working with the CEN Caucus and our allies to help set up a webpage where people can register their opposition to the CEAA amendments.  Check it out now and take action to protect CEAA.
• We, along with many other groups, are signing letters asking all MPs to stop the gutting of environmental assessment by cutting these destructive changes from the Budget bill.  If they are passed into law, we will seek commitments from the opposition parties to reverse these amendments. 

West Coast is playing a key role in this national campaign and we will continue to oppose not just the amendments to CEAA, but the way that this has been done.  Burying amendments that have little to do with the budget in budget legislation is an undemocratic and cynical sleight of hand which undermines Parliamentary transparency and accountability.  Add your voice and join us in opposing these amendments, by joining us on Facebook, by talking to your MP, and by writing to the federal government. 

Update (May 17, 2010): The House of Commons Finance Committee passed the Budget bill and returned it to the House without amendments on Thursday, May 13. The Budget will now go to Third Reading in the House of Commons, and a vote, before moving to the Senate.

The House of Commons and Senate are very unlikely to defeat the Budget, or to break up the bill by removing the sections that weaken environmental assessment laws. No party in the Commons wishes to provoke an election, which would result from the Budget’s defeat. As a result, these changes are likely to become law. Assuming the Budget passes, we will continue to work to reverse these changes, to restore Canada’s environmental laws, and to improve them.