House of Commons CANADA Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development ENVI Ï NUMBER 031 Ï 3rd SESSION Ï 40th PARLIAMENT EVIDENCE Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Chair Mr. James Bezan 1 Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Ï (1530) this bill is to give them the mechanism so that we can implement [English] those principles. The Chair (Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake, CPC)): We'll call this meeting to order. We have quorum. Nowhere is that principle more important than in environmental We are starting a little bit late and we do have votes tonight, so we protection. We have signed treaty after treaty and international have to try to stay on schedule as much as possible. agreement after international agreement committing to public participation and transparency in environmental decision-making. As you know, we're at meeting number 31 of the Standing What this bill does is provide the legal framework to implement Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. We're those commitments and duties. going to study Bill C-469, An Act to establish a Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights, pursuant to the order of reference that we received back on June 16. We're going to do this in three different mini-panels today. This bill is grounded in a number of international principles that the Government of Canada has endorsed. One of those is the The sponsor of the bill, Ms. Duncan, member of Parliament for precautionary principle. A second is the principle of environmental Edmonton-Strathcona, will introduce the bill to committee. justice, and that includes both the substantive and procedural rights that are included under the justice principles. It also endorses the Linda, the floor is yours. polluter pays principle. Finally, the bill is based on the premise that it Ms. Linda Duncan (Edmonton—Strathcona, NDP): Thank is the responsibility of the government to preserve and protect the you, Mr. Chair. I will try to be succinct, and I know you will hold me environment in the collective interest of current and future to that. generations of Canadians. I'm delighted to be here. It's a great privilege to have tabled this bill. It is a bill that many individuals and organizations across the As has been pointed out several times—and I know we're going to country have been working on for decades, and that includes me. have witnesses today speaking to this matter—more than 130 I'm looking forward to hearing from all the witnesses that all of nations, as far as I've been recently updated, have enshrined the right the parties have put forward. I think we're going to have a really to a clean, healthy, ecologically balanced environment either in their good dialogue on the bill and I'm looking forward to it. We have two constitutions or in their national laws. For example, a number of particularly outstanding witnesses following me, and I'm delighted nations that we are in the process of signing trade agreements with— that they're been available to testify. or that we have signed with—have incorporated those rights. They include: Colombia, Panama, Cuba, Kuwait, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Briefly, the purpose of the bill is to implement the right to a clean, Mexico, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, healthy environment, an ecologically balanced environment for all Switzerland, and South Africa. The list goes on and on. Thus far, Canadians, and it imposes the duty on the government to uphold unfortunately, Canada is one of the countries that hasn't done that, those rights. Interestingly, this is a bill that we should have no even though it has happened at the provincial level. problem whatsoever to find unanimous consent for, because all four parties that have been elected to our federal House have espoused support for these principles. A number of Canadian provincial and territorial governments have I could give one example. The 2008 Conservative Party of Canada already taken action, and quite some time ago; I think it was as far policy declaration commits to a “belief that the quality of the back as 1988 that the Northwest Territories was the first off the plate. environment is a vital part of our heritage to be protected by each It enacted the right to a clean, healthy environment and imposed the generation for the next”. That, of course, is one of the principles that duty on its government to uphold those rights, and included the this bill is founded upon. bundle of rights that are included in this bill that I've tabled. Ontario followed suit with a separate environmental bill of rights. The The whole purpose of this bill is to provide a legislative measure Government of the Yukon has included that bundle of rights within to implement the accountability measures that all four parties of the its environmental statute, and Quebec has also enshrined those House have espoused and have said they support. The purpose of rights. 2 ENVI-31 October 27, 2010 Past federal governments have enshrined some of the rights that appear before the courts. It would remove that extra barrier and cost are included in Bill C-469. For example, there is the right to seek an for concerned members of the public, who actually have to go to investigation of an environmental offence and, in some cases, to court and prove standing before they bring this substantive matter initiate legal proceedings, but for the most part that is only in the before the courts. It would provide them the opportunity both to Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Despite some measures participate in environmental decision-making and to raise a serious taken by the current federal government to provide consistency matter before the courts, despite the fact that they lack a private or across environmental statutes—for example, through its enforcement special interest in the matter. In other words, the whole point is to bill tabled last year—it has not provided consistency in this arena provide an opportunity for the public to step forward and represent and has not incorporated the same kinds of rights and opportunities the public interest. in CEPA. In the federal government, there is no comprehensive stand-alone By enacting this right and duty, Canada's commitments and law yet to incorporate these very principles that all four parties have obligations under numerous international laws and agreements espoused, despite the fact that there has been broad support by would be enshrined in domestic law. By way of example, Canada Canadians across the country. has committed to extensive participation rights and access to information under the Rio Conventions, Agenda 21, the North What are the key purposes? As I've mentioned, the environmental American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, and, more bill of rights grants every resident of Canada the right to a healthy recently, the U.S.–Canada Clean Energy Dialogue. Consistent with and ecologically balanced environment and, most importantly, this participatory right, the bill entitles any Canadian resident to imposes the obligation on the Government of Canada, within its apply to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable jurisdiction, to protect those rights. The bill would also amend Development for a review of law, policy, regulation, or statutory section 1 of the Canadian Bill of Rights to include the right to a instrument. healthy and ecologically balanced environment. Ï (1535) Fourth, the bill provides for the right to compel the investigation What new rights and duties, specifically, are created through this of an environmental offence. Again, as I mentioned, this right and bill? opportunity already exists under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, as it exists under most provincial law. This bill will First is the protection of the public trust. Under existing law, some accord that right to all environmental statutes, whether they deal with federal ministers are obligated to do a number of specific actions to toxins, fisheries, wildlife, migratory birds, climate change, or protect the environment. For example, under CEPA, the federal environmental assessment. Minister of Health has a mandatory duty to look into information about any health impacts associated with toxins that comes to her Fifth, the act extends the opportunity to the public for basic access attention. to legal remedies. There are three categories of environmental Generally speaking, these kinds of rights and duties are not remedy. One is an environmental protection action. Another is access imposed in other federal laws. For the purpose of consistency, to seek judicial review of a federal law. The third is civil action. I because we always talk in our House about the need to be consistent won't go into the details. I could answer questions about them during and to respect provincial jurisdiction, it only makes sense that we questions. follow consistently and prescribe these same duties in our federal law: the right to protect the public trust and the obligation of the Sixth, the act would provide whistle-blower protection. Essen- government to protect that trust. tially, that means that federal employees who are scientists or technicians, or who have scientific or environmental information and Second, Bill C-469 would ensure access to environmental who step forward to participate in decision-making, initiate an information. We do, of course, have the Access to Information investigation, provide information, give evidence, or in good faith Act, but we've been having some problems with that act. Bill C-469 refuse to act, would be protected under this statute. would compel the government to provide effective access to information in a reasonable, timely, and affordable manner.