[All] Fw: Proposed Policy to include with CEPA

[Lanteigne]

Elizabeth May and Mike Morrice had to vote against Bill S-5. Details below. It is unenforceable and fails to reasonably address the risks. 
We knew from Rodney Northey at the Hallman Quarry Pit meeting that Canada lacks laws on particulate matter unless it is radioactive. With the fires we have and no policies in place, no regard for cumulative impacts or Provincial planning laws in the PPS to even have regard for it, we have to push for policy there. 
Lulu 


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


Begin forwarded message:

On Wednesday, June 7, 2023, 2:41 PM, May, Elizabeth - M.P. <Elizabeth.May at parl.gc.ca> wrote:

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Good afternoon,
 
  
 
Thank you for writing about Bill S-5, long awaited amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). CEPA was first passed in 1988 and last updated over twenty years ago. I have worked on it since before First Reading in 1987 when I was in the office of the Minister of Environment and ever since through my work as Executive Director of Sierra Club of Canada (1989-2006) and since 2006 with the Green Party.
 
  
 
The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development studied CEPA and delivered a substantial report back in June 2017 with 87 recommendations.  Repeated Liberal platforms pledged to bring in these changes: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/envi/report-8/page-5
 
  
 
It is always a dilemma trying to decide whether to vote for flawed legislation from the Liberalgovernment which is too weak, or vote against it in hopes of better. My general rule is to vote for anything that represents even minor progress,as long as it does no harm.
 
  
 
In this case, I did not have that dilemma. As JoeCastrilli, Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) counsel, and Fe de Leon, CELA senior researcher wrote recently in the Hill Times (April 26, 2023):
 
  
 
"Taken as a whole,the amendments to CEPA in Bill S-5 do not constitute progress in controlling toxic substances in Canada. The problems with Bill S-5’s approach to toxic substancesare myriad, but fall into two broad categories: (1) failing to fix what is broken in CEPA; and (2) proposing to fix what isn’t broken in CEPA and in the process, making things worse. The first category includes: (1) failing to make pollution prevention plans mandatory for toxic substances listed in the Act; and (2) failing to improve the flawed authority for virtual elimination of the worst substances and compounding the problem by eliminating the authority altogether from CEPA. The second category includes eliminating the authority to prohibit the use of, or seek safe alternatives to, almost 90 percent of the toxic substances listed in CEPA." (Emphasis added).
 
  
 
As well, the long promised "right to a healthy environment" is in the new law, but there are no provisions to enforce that right.  A right that cannot be enforced is a bumper-sticker, not a right.
 
  
 
My Green colleague MP Mike Morrice and I were not able to vote in support. For me personally, this was heartbreaking.
 
  
 
As noted, I worked on CEPA in the 1980s when I was in the Minister of Environment’s office and have been invested and involved with reviews and proposed updates of this law through both my time at the Sierra Club of Canada and as an MP. Unfortunately, S-5 has been a missed opportunity to modernise and improve CEPA. From mid-December last year to March this year, the Green Party attempted to put forward 24 amendments, but they were all struck down.
 
  
 
With my amendments I tried to strengthen the bill in the following areas:
 
-Ensuring that the "right to a healthy environment" is an enforceable right.
 
-Eliminating the use of toxic substances, rather than simply capping their quantity.
 
-Ensuring pollution prevention planning is not discretionary and is enforceable.
 
-Including the regulation of toxic substances as they relate to air quality.
 
-Working to update section 6 with provisions to regulate GMOs.
 
  
 
As well, S-5 failed to update CEPA's laws on Ocean Dumping despite increased pollution on our coats from cruise ships. I could not even try to amend this failure nor the lack of action on GMOs as outside the scope of S-5, so beyond my reach.
 
  
 
You can read or watch my speech to Parliament from the fall here:https://elizabethmaymp.ca/s-5-is-missing-many-things-including-the-enforceable-right-to-a-healthy-environment/. Or watch my most recent speech on the S-5 amendment process here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDBOS1yyCds.
 
  
 
Thank you again for writing. I will continue to work towards any measures that can be taken to strengthen CEPA, rather than weakening it.
 
  
 
Sincerely,
 
Elizabeth May, O.C.
 
Member of Parliament
 
Saanich-Gulf Islands
 
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
 
  
 


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