Your take-away message: If you do anything after reading this post – join the Facebook group Save Canada’s Environmental Laws!, and get your friends to do the same.
As we posted earlier, the Canadian government has hidden legislative provisions gutting the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act way in the back of the voluminous 2010 Budget Implementation Act. In that blog post we expressed the hope that Canadians would oppose this undemocratic and, frankly, anti-environmental maneuver.
Will the Canadian government get away with this cynical and undemocratic attempt to by-pass public process? Could be: they got away with burying major changes to Canada’s Navigable Waters Protection Act in last year’s Budget Implementation Act.
But then again, they thought that they would get away with proroguing Parliament, and Canadians flocked to Facebook groups and Websites, phoned their MPs and demonstrated in the streets. We can only hope that Canadians will be as vigilant now that the integrity of one of Canada’s most important environmental laws is at stake.
In a perceptive comment responding to that post, “PFL” wrote:
The democracy movement you mentioned didn't happen because of hope. It happened because of work. If you want to make this a big thing, you're going to have to hammer on about it, everywhere, all the time, with everyone (all parties).
I agree with your critique, but saying "We can only hope" is weak.
We know that social change does not just happen. We’re working with the members of the Canadian Environmental Network’s Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus and others to call on Canadian politicians to fight these amendments. As part of our work with that coalition, Josh Paterson of our office has launched a new Facebook group, which we hope will be a key focus of public opposition to the gutting of CEAA, as well as the undermining of the Navigable Waters Protection Act last year, and other anti-environmental initiatives.
If you’re on Facebook (or if you’ve always thought about joining), now is the time to join Save Canada’s Environmental Laws! Invite your friends, and your friend’s friends to join – let’s grow this facebook group!
It’s also the time to talk to, and write to, your MPs and ask them to oppose this attempt to hide amendments a key environmental law at the back of budget legislation. Remember, handwritten letters may work best, but e-mails, telephone calls and other communications are also important.