Ottawa slow to go green: Critics

As always the government motto is: Do as I say not as I do. I am sure the hot air from the senate and parliament aggravates global warming as well.


Ottawa slow to go green, critic says
TheStar.com - News - Ottawa slow to go green, critic says

October 30, 2007
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA — The federal government has put tough rules in place to make industry and individuals clean up the environment but it has shirked its own commitment to go green, a new audit has found.

The federal environment commissioner says Ottawa has been promising since 1992 to put in place a sustainable development strategy to clean up the actions of its departments but has little to show for it 15 years later.

"It's one of the many tools that the government introduced ... to manage environmental sustainable development well," commissioner Ron Thompson said.

"It's a matter of great concern to us that that tool simply is not working."

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser added that the government's continued neglect of this plan to factor the environment into departments' decision-making process is a "major disappointment."

The goals that have been laid out by the government provide little in the way of expectations for departments to help clean up the air and water, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and make more intelligent use of natural resources.

"Nor does it provide baselines or targets against which departments could monitor or report on their progress," says the report, which puts the blame on the shoulders of Environment Canada.

"We expected Environment Canada to have managed this issue more consistently and proactively."

Government departments have been producing sustainable development strategies every three years since 1997 and the environment commissioner has written 10 reports so far on the substandard progress that has been made.

But despite consistent promises to take "appropriate action," little improvement has occurred.

Part of the problem, the audit suggests, is the poor attitude of officials who view government plans to go green as a "compliance requirement" rather than a new way of doing business.

"It is apparent to us that departments are working to satisfy the statutory requirements set out in the Auditor General Act. We are concerned that they are working to meet the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it."

Environment Canada is conducting a check of all the departmental programs designed to address sustainable development, something the auditor's report dismissed as a "simple catalogue of activities."

"In our 2002 report, we said that trying to gauge progress toward sustainable development by examining a collection of disjointed strategies that listed thousands of activities was like trying to assemble a complicated jigsaw without the picture on the box. Our view has not changed."

Instead, the environment commissioner is calling for strong federal strategy on sustainable activities that sets out clear guidelines for government departments.

He also calls for parliamentarians to be more vigorous in their oversight of the government's approach.

Environment Canada responded to the audit with a promise to "improve the government's approach" by October 2008.

"There will never be a better time to carry out this review," Thompson said.

"Canadians are highly interested in environmental issues and there is time for government to adjust its approach before the next round of strategies is tabled in 2009."