Canada's Ruling Conservatives Take Another Swipe at Environmental Protections

Canada's ruling federal conservatives are once again taking the ax to the nation's environmental protections. In a bid to virtually eliminate government agencies that could stand in the way of fossil fuel extraction, The federal government is reducing the number of departments and agencies that can do environmental reviews from 40 to just three. The only federal bodies to carry out reviews will be the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

"We need to tap into the tremendous appetite for resources in the world’s dynamic emerging economies — resources we have in abundance," said Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver in defense of the move.

Canadian Conservatives Slash Environmental Assessment

Recently, in the speech from the throne, the Canadian Conservative government affirmed its commitment to improving environmental assessment, now it is gutting those institutions responsible for environmental oversight.

The Conservative government of Canada is cutting jobs and funding to the environmental agency that evaluates policies and projects. These cutbacks ensure that Canadians will have less information about proposed resource projects.

Canadian Conservatives Slash NRC Budget

The Canadian Conservatives have cut almost $200 million from the budget of the National Research Council of Canada. The Harper governments cuts eliminate more than 20 percent of the NRC's budget.

The National Research Council promotes leading-edge technological research and is the Government of Canada's premier organization for research and development. For almost 100 years the NRC has been contributing to more informed decision making. This year, the NRC named sustainable energy as one of its three national priority areas.