Johanne Gelinas, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, said the government tends to make loud announcements which are forgotten "as soon as the confetti hits the ground."
In a report released Thursday, Gelinas chides Ottawa for doing a poor job protecting the oceans, promoting biodiversity and ensuring safe drinking water on native reserves.
It also says the government has no policy for buying green, environmentally sound products, nor has it pushed departments to co-ordinate policies on sustainable development...
"The federal government is chronically unable to sustain initiatives, once they are launched."
Now that the truth has been confirmed by the person specifically assigned to thoroughly examine the government's response to environmental issues, it's essential to make sure that Gelinas' report is brought to the forefront every time Stephane Dion unveils a shiny new plan (or portion thereof).
The suggestions in the report are far from unrealistic, and indeed seem so glaringly obvious that it's tough to believe they're not in place already. A reduction in bureaucratic infighting to focus on the big picture may run into personality conflicts and thus require a lot of (justified) effort. But a systematic effort to link environmental concerns to government procurement isn't hard at all, and in fact has been codified in Saskatchewan among other provinces. And while we know about PMPM's usual record of keeping promises, it shouldn't be too much of stretch to meet past commitments about biodiversity, or to go to the trouble of putting together (and eventually implementing) a plan on ocean management when the enabling statute was passed eight years ago.
These may not be sexy political issues, but they're a very simple way to make a real difference with regard to the environment. Hopefully they can be either put into the broken-promise context this fall to bring them to the forefront, or better yet addressed as part of the NDP's conditions for cooperation.
No comments:
Post a Comment