Ottawa prepared to move on environmental reviews

The federal government is moving to implement regulations on environmental reviews dealing with mining and other industrial projects.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Environment Minister Sheila Copps promised that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act would be implemented withing the next few weeks. (The act was passed under the governing Tories in 1992, but was never put into effect.)

“The Canadian Environmental Agency will be up and running by January,” Copps told the Commons, referring to a new federal body that will screen dams, mines, pipelines and other big projects for adverse environmental impact. The recently elected Parti Quebecois government wasted no time reacting, Canadian Press reports.

Quebec Environment Minister Jacques Brassard said he has ordered his officials to pull out of federal-provincial talks aimed at co-ordinating environmental assessment rules, adding that he may fight the legislation in court.

“It’s a clear intrusion into provincial jurisdiction in the area of environmental assessment and will create a double assessment for almost every project,” Brassard charged.

Copps said she is committed to the principle of one assessment for each project and wants to sign harmonization agreements with all provinces, including Quebec.

Reaction from environmentalists was mixed, but several praised Copps for bringing the legislation forward.

“The minister should get credit. I don’t think it was easy to get the bill through cabinet,” said Brian Pannell, a Winnipeg-based environmental lawyer who was closely involved in consultations on the act.

The regulations accompanying the act have not been released, but sources said they exempt exports of oil, gas and electricity from environmental review under the act.

Stewart Elgie, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, said the bill is a major step forward but that it still has gaping holes, including the exemption of energy exports.

Meanwhile, concern about the environment has virtually disappeared while fears about national unity are on the rise, a new Angus Reid poll suggests. Unemployment remained the top concern, the poll indicates.

Only 3% of Canadians interviewed during the summer rated the environment as the top issue.

In the late 1980s, 31% of Canadians surveyed told Angus Reid the environment was the most important issue.

Angus Reid surveyed 1,503 adults in July and August. The poll is considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.