What Bill C-38 means for the environment

The 2012 budget bill (Bill C-38) will weaken Canada’s most important environmental laws and silence Canadians who want to defend them. Instead of using the usual process for sweeping changes, which allows for thorough debate, these changes are being shoehorned into a 452-page budget bill.

The changes amount to:

• weakened protection for fish and species at risk;
• an entirely new — and less comprehensive — environmental assessment law;
• broad decision making powers for Cabinet and Ministers; and
• less accountability and fewer opportunities for public participation.

This publication is a list of the TOP 10 items of environmental concern in the budget bill.

For the French version of this publication, please click here or on the link below.