Blog
January 26th 2009
Greening Canada’s budget
What do 20 environmental groups and four ex-PMs agree on?
In the hopes of following in step with new American President Barack Obama, a number of people are urging the Canadian government to reconsider its dedication to the environment.
The Green Budget Coalition (GBC) is a group of 20 environmental organizations that want Canada’s 2009 national budget to include greener initiatives.
“We hope the Government will implement all our recommendations,” said Andrew Van Iterson, project manager at GBC. “Each will provide long-term economic and environmental pay-offs.”
Iterson thinks Canada’s budget should concentrate on establishing an adequate price on carbon, conserving Canada’s national plant and animal biodiversity and renewing the environment of the combined Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region.
The GBC has been making similar recommendations to the government since 1999.
But critics say that Harper won’t take the initiative until America acts.
“Canada isn’t going to move unilaterally,” said James Townsend, a professor of economics at the University of Winnipeg. “We’ll have to see what Obama does.”
Tim Weis of the Pembina Institute, an Edmonton-based environmental think tank and a member of the GBC coalition, said the time has never been better for the government to act.
“We keep putting off action on climate change,” he said.
He cites Obama’s $50 billion commitment to their green infrastructure.
“It’s hard for us to not walk in step with America.”
The GBC isn’t the only one criticizing the government. On Jan. 21, CBC News reported that four former prime ministers have signed a statement in support of a green stimulus package.
Approximately 60 people including former Conservative Party of Canada leaders Joe Clark and Kim Campbell, along with former Liberal Party of Canada leaders Paul Martin and John Turner signed the document, entitled Time for a Green Economy.
The document recommends a carbon tax of $30/tonne, a cap and trade system, or a combination of the two.
“Green stimulus will provide jobs quickly through a program to retrofit government real estate and low-income housing,” states the call for action.
The GBC has created its own green stimulus packages. Some of their ideas include an initiative to modify fishing gear to lessen its impact on the ecosystem and an infrastructure plan to maintain our national parks and create new wildlife and marine protected areas.
Townsend said that he isn’t sure how national parks are a top priority.
“I suspect the [GBC’s recommendations] won’t be a big part of the stimulus package,” he said.
Others are more hopeful.
“It seems the government’s commitment to the environment is a fair-weather thing,” said Matt Morison of the University of Winnipeg student group Ecological People in Action (EcoPIA).
“Investing in green technology and jobs will be more than a bailout,” he said, referring to the recent trend of large sums of cash bailing out large corporations.
For more information, visit http://www.greenbudget.ca.
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