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Stakeholder group reworks Tory air-quality plan after conflicting complaints |
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Written by Steve Rennie, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Tuesday, 05 August 2008 |
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OTTAWA - A committee of seemingly competing interests is reworking part of the Harper government's green plan after conflicting complaints from industry and environmentalists.
The panel of environmental groups, industry lobbyists and federal and provincial officials must report to cabinet by mid-September on ways to improve the Conservatives' air-quality plan.
Environment Minister John Baird says any recommendations will be seriously weighed by the Tories as they prepare to publish regulations on air quality and greenhouse-gas emissions.
"It's been an unusual spirit of co-operation, but I think it's going to deliver the goods for cleaner air," he told The Canadian Press.
"It's not every day you get a letter from the chemical producers and the Sierra Club, co-signed."
While its moniker, "Fred," may be facetious - committee member Gordon Lloyd of the Canadian Chemical Producers Association says it doesn't actually stand for anything - the group is a powder keg of rival interests.
And the stakes are high.
"The fact that we're working in this pressure cooker, that anybody can basically torpedo this process by pulling out of it, is what's keeping us together," Lloyd said.
"We all want an alternative to what the federal government originally proposed. I think there's a consensus that there (are) some real, fundamental flaws in it.
"So we all know that we can only come up with that alternative if we all keep working together."
The committee was struck after widespread discontent with the federal regulatory framework for air emissions announced by the Conservatives in April 2007.
Industry and environmental lobbyists complained they were left out of the consultation process.
Cabinet eventually authorized the committee to come up with other options for the air-quality plan. A steering committee was created this past May and it has met several times so far this summer.
Committee members who spoke to The Canadian Press chose their words carefully. No one wanted to jeopardize negotiations by betraying each others' confidences to the media.
But some details trickled out.
The environmental groups want more stringent air-quality regulations, while industry wants consistent standards across Canada.
Several committee members spoke of crafting the federal framework to manage air-quality differently across the country.
"In some areas, we see very high ambient air emissions, and in other areas we see less," said Nashina Shariff of the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta.
"So you may manage areas differently depending on how big a problem you have environmentally."
There's likely to be greater co-operation between Ottawa and the provinces. The committee's proposal would give the provinces more autonomy to regulate air pollution, Shariff said, with the federal government acting as a backstop.
There's also talk of setting a national quality standard for industry that accounts for differences in various sectors, Lloyd added, rather than a "cookie-cutter" approach.
However, the committee members interviewed stressed that the proposal is still a work in progress and it could change before it's sent to cabinet.
"This isn't done yet," said Christopher Wilson of the Canadian Lung Association. "We have complex and different interests at play here."
"At the end of the day, we'll have to achieve agreement . . . and it remains to be seen whether the government will find this an acceptable, attractive alternative to what they've already proposed."
Baird said cabinet has shown a "considerable amount of positive interest" in the committee's work, which will be discussed this fall at a meeting of federal and provincial environment ministers.
The Conservatives have pledged to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020.
The committee includes representatives from the David Suzuki Foundation, the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta, Pollution Probe, the Sierra Club, the Canadian Lung Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Chemical Producers Association, the Mining Association of Canada, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Canadian Electricity Association, the Cement Association of Canada, the Forest Products Association of Canada and the federal and provincial governments.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 )
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