Questions for federal election candidates - Canada's environment and sustainability
Responses from the Liberal Party of Canada1. How would your party build on the recent Federal Sustainable Development Act to achieve real progress towards sustainable development in Canada?
A Liberal government will enthusiastically implement the new Federal Sustainable Development Act, a Liberal private member’s bill that requires the federal government to set clear environmental goals and measurable targets and to report annually to Canadians
on the state of our environment.
We will elevate the role of Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development – Parliament’s watch dog - to monitor progress and report directly to Parliament and Canadians.
And we will introduce a Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights to ensure transparency, accountability, and public participation in environmental decision-making. By empowering citizens with better information and tools to hold governments to account,
we will better ensure that Canadians’ right to a clean environment is respected.
2. What binding, enforceable measures would your party put in place to address the increasing threats of climate change and meet Canada’s international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol?
Climate change may well be the most pressing challenge of our time. But it also presents a rare opportunity. By encouraging energy-efficient and clean technologies and practices today, Canada can be a leader in the economy of tomorrow. The Liberal Green Shift is the foundation of a national climate change plan, one that puts a price on carbon and addresses the carbon pollution that is produced by all sectors of our economy and isstored in our natural spaces.
To set a clear path for ourselves, and be taken seriously internationally, we need to establish firm targets to cut emissions in the short, medium and long term. A Liberal government will:
- respect our commitments and international obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and increasing this goal to at least 25 per cent if other countries make comparable efforts;
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2035
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 60 to 80 per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2050.
These targets are tough but achievable. They are also consistent with those of other leading jurisdictions. Most important, they are what scientific experts tell us is required to avert the dangers of climate change and protect human health. Inspired by that goal, a Liberal government will enact a plan to ensure that Canada reaches these targets, making Canada a world leader in global environmental citizenship.
Cutting Industrial Emissions of Greenhouse Gases
Over half of Canada’s total GHG emissions come from large industrial emitters. The Conservative government’s approach is so weak and so full of loopholes that it will have very little effect, according to the experts who have studied it.
A Liberal government will act immediately to put a price on carbon that rises to $40 per tonne of carbon emission within four years. That price will start low enough not to cause economic hardship, but will progressively increase over time, to send industry the clear message that the old ways of polluting production no longer make sense. The price will begin with our very first budget, allowing Canadian companies to start right away on the path to increasing energy efficiency and lowering emissions.
While the economy begins to adjust to a low carbon future, a Liberal government will take the time to properly design mandatory, absolute emissions caps for the largest polluting sectors--oil and gas production, utilities, and energy-intensive industries -- to
ensure these companies reduce the emissions that harm our health and environment.
We will create a real carbon trading system to reward companies that reduce emissions more quickly to sell their emission credits to those who will take a little longer to reduce. This “cap-and-trade” system will harness the power of the market to fight climate change, setting an absolute limit on industrial emissions and auctioning emission permits, while letting the market decide how best to make the reductions in a cost-effective way.
We will ensure this cap-and-trade system will be able to interact with international trading systems, and will be integrated with our other measures so that companies who are covered by the cap-and-trade system are not “double taxed” or treated unfairly.
This plan will offer business the predictability and clarity they need to make sound investment decisions and plan for the future, and will offer the environmental certainty that emissions are reduced.
One of the advantages of a cap-and-trade system is the financial incentives offered to sectors of the economy that are not energy related, such as farming and forestry. But a cap-and-trade system cannot be implemented overnight. In the interim, before a cap-andtrade system is in place, we will set aside $400 million over four years to provide refundable tax credits for industries such as farming and forestry that are achieving real, verified reductions in their emissions. A Liberal government will make it pay to adopt practices such as low-till or no-till farming, or greener forestry management.
3. What regulatory and policy steps would your party take to ensure protection of human health and the environment as innovative technologies, such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, are developed?
The Liberal Party is committed to protect human health and the environment and we think that cutting edge technology is one of the best ways to reach this goal. That is why we are encouraging businesses to invest in green technology to make the environment
cleaner and thus to protect human health. A Liberal government will also extend the tax credit for research and development through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax (SR&ED) Program; so that 25 percent of SR&ED tax credits received
will be refundable. As well, we will set aside $1.7 billion for accelerated capital cost allowance rates to encourage investments in green technologies and equipment. These investments will help improve the quality of our environment and therefore the quality of our health.
4. What does your party plan to do to strengthen agriculture in Canada and ensure a secure supply of locally grown food in the country?
The Liberal Party platform provides policies and programs that will build a strong future for our agriculture sector.
A new Liberal government would make major investments in rural Canada to support Canadian farm families and make Canadian agriculture a leader in the green economy.
- $400 million over four years for refundable Emissions Reduction Credits for all farmers, regardless of income. In advance of a cap-and-trade system, the Emissions Reduction Credits will encourage and reward rural businesses such as farming and forestry that are achieving verified reductions in non-energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
- $250-million Green Farms Fund to support green farm research and to put cash into the hands of farmers by offering them rebates for the purchase of technologies that reduce fuel consumption and improve energy efficiency.
- A new $564-million Regional Flexibility Fund for farmers to develop regionalspecific solutions to address the environment, business risk management and cost of production needs. Farmers have often said big, national programs don’t work for them.
- $1.7 billion for an accelerated capital cost allowance on investment in green technologies, as announced as part of the Liberal Green Shift plan. This will allow farmers to depreciate their investments in environmentally-friendly capital on their farms. In doing so, farmers will get a bigger tax deduction for being more energy efficient and polluting less.
- $1.2 billion to improve the Science, Research & Development tax credit, also part of our Green Shift, to encourage more investment in renewable solutions, such as those that come from farms.
To secure a locally grown food supply in Canada, we have committed to invest in a new $30-million program to support the promotion of local farmers’ markets and the branding of Canadian-grown foods. The more that Canadians buy local farm products, the less distance our food has to travel – this is good for farmers, consumers and the environment.
5. How would your party respond to growing concerns about water quality and quantity in the Great Lakes basin?
Our substantial infrastructure commitments will help our cities and communities to invest in much needed water-treatment infrastructure to manage water demand and preserve a clean water supply.
In addition, a Liberal government will invest $400 million in a Canada Water Fund. This new initiative will:
- increase monitoring and reporting of the quantity and quality of Canadian water;
- clean up our waterways, including “hot spots” in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and Lake Winnipeg;
- research the impact of emerging pollutants in water on human and aquatic ecosystem health;
- fight invasive species, such as the sea lamprey or zebra mussel;
- map Canada’s underground aquifers that supply our drinking water, so we know where our groundwater comes from and how it is affected by human activities; and,
- support the on-farm and community-based fresh water development programs of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.
Priorities will be informed and coordinated by a National Water Council, with membership from all orders of government, First Nations, industry, research institutes and community stakeholders.
A Liberal government will also protect Canada’s water supply by standing up for Canadian control over our waters and bringing in backstop legislation to ban the bulk export of water, and taking a strong stand against risky U.S. diversions of water systems
that affect Canada. We will ban the dumping of raw sewage into our waterways and fully exercise federal regulatory authority to stop over-contamination of waterways, especially in areas of serious stress like the Athabaska River.
Finally, a new Liberal government will introduce a Water Efficiency Act which, for the first time ever, will set standards for products used in Canada and will create consumer labelling standard for water-efficient products.
6. How does your party plan to address the illegal flow of Canada’s electronic waste to toxic sites in developing countries?
Hazardous substances are commonly used as chemical additives in consumer products we use every day. Canadians are exposed to a mixture of chemicals that can cause a wide range of health effects, and yet we still don’t know enough about these effects. But we do know that a parent putting a baby down on its crib shouldn’t have to be afraid that something in the mattress will harm their child’s health.
A Liberal government will introduce a Toxic Substances Reduction Strategy to ensure that only safe food and products are sold in Canada.
As part of this Strategy, we will encourage producers to stop using harmful substance and look for healthier alternatives. To begin, we will impose a general safety requirement on any consumer product put on the market to ensure that consumer products pose no danger to human health or safety, either through direct exposure or exposure via the environment.
We will also establish a “Hot List” of carcinogenic substances and developmental toxins that should be prohibited in consumer products and establish strict timelines for phasing them out of products. We will ensure, through legislation, that safer substitutes must replace toxic substances in products as alternatives become available.
Companies will be required to share all their research studies on the effects of their products – and not just the positive ones. And, we will increase the enforcement capacity of Health Canada and ensure products are subjected to a serious testing program that also randomly checks the actual products on the store shelves.
Furthermore, a new Liberal government will ensure that government officials have a duty to act when the government is made aware of a risk from a consumer product. The current approach proposed by the Conservative government doesn’t require government
to do anything if a risk is identified. This is a signal to industry that Canada is a potential dumping ground for problematic products.
A Liberal government will ensure the Consumer’s Right to Know: companies will have to clearly label the harmful substances in their products. And we will expand the Government of Canada’s Ecologo certification labelling program to help consumers identify products and services that are less harmful to the environment and human health.
Finally, a Liberal government will play a more active role to protect Canadians and to help expand our knowledge of the effects of toxic chemicals on human health, particularly the most vulnerable. We will expand the Canadian Health Measures Survey, created by the former Liberal government, which measures human levels of environmental chemicals, and we will establish a Network for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research – so critical gaps in our knowledge about the impact of chemicals on our bodies, and especially on our most vulnerable population, our kids, are filled as quickly as possible to help us better regulate substances of concern.