Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
The federal Conservatives still promise to cut air pollution in Canada in half by 2015, but their 19-month-old pledge has not been put into action.
The Conservatives had said they would have an action plan in place by the summer of 2007, but shifted their efforts to a joint government, industry and environmental organization committee meant to hammer out a way to implement the reductions. That committee -- which includes groups such as the Forest Products Association of Canada and the Sierra Club of Canada -- is still working on its recommendations, which were delayed by the recent federal election.
"I know we're still going down that road," said Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris, who has acknowledged air quality is an important issue in Prince George.
He noted that the new Environment Minister, Jim Prentice -- he replaced John Baird following the October election -- would likely want to put his own "fingerprints" on the implementation plan.
Harris said he would be finding out more information soon on where his government was headed with the plan.
Dave Fuller, who heads a Prince George air quality advocacy group with more than 1,000 members, is increasingly skeptical of the federal government promise to cut air pollutants.
"I'd be surprised if the federal government moved on industry at this time because of what's happening in the economy," said Fuller, president of the People's Action Committee for Healthy Air.
He said that's frustrating because governments do not move during good times, either.
When the Conservatives released their clean-air blueprint in spring 2007, the air pollution cuts were overshadowed by the strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the Conservatives' plan, called Turning the Corner, set out a map to reduce industrial air pollutants from their 2006 levels, including those produced by industry in Prince George. The government promised to reduce nitrogen oxides by 40 per cent, sulfur dioxides by 55 per cent, volatile organic compounds by 45 per cent and particulate matter by 20 per cent.
But industry balked, the provinces weren't happy and even environmental organizations were skeptical with Ottawa's plan to regulate and set reductions for each industry, partly because environment is also a provincial responsibility.
"It just wasn't going to work," said Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club, who sits on the committee eventually formed by the federal government.
Since last summer, the committee has been working on a framework to achieve the reductions -- which includes legally entrenched national ambient air quality standards and regulations to mandate the use of best available technology.
The idea is to have Ottawa show regulatory leadership, but allow the provinces some autonomy, said Hazell. "What's striking about this initiative is that everybody seems to be working in good faith, which almost never happens," he observed.
However, Hazell says he's not sure what the Conservatives will do with the recommendations, which are almost complete. He notes draft legislation could be ready in six months to a year.
The Forest Products Association of Canada -- one of six industry associations on the committee -- declined to comment on the committee process.
Northern B.C. NDP MP Nathan Cullen says he's starting to lose faith the Conservatives will move forward on their pledge to reduce air pollutants.
He said the government is stuck in an ideology that there's an absolute choice between the environment and the economy.
"The shame is that Canada has a relatively decent history setting up something around acid rain," said Cullen, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley. "Not only did we clean up the environment, but investment went up in those industries and they became quite a bit stronger and more efficient."
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 December 2008 )
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