Term Paper on "Environmental Politics in Canada"

Term Paper 13 pages (3601 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Canada

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES & POLITICS IN CANADA

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

The objective of this research is to answer the question of: "What kind of impact does globalization have on Canadian policies concerning air pollution, specifically concerning motor vehicle air pollution?

THE ARGUMENT PRESENTED IN THIS WORK

The argument presented in this work is that Canada's tendency to follow the policy of the United States is likely to result in Canada having the same critical problem of vehicle emissions that the United States has witnessed due to U.S. policy and further that the AirCare emissions program mandated in Canada have fallen short of the objective.

Stated in the work entitled: "Planning for Sustainability" is that: "The transportation sector component of the Government of Canada's Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change is based on five elements:

"Fuel efficiency - launch negotiations to achieve new vehicle fuel efficiency targets by 2010;

New fuels - increase the supply and use of ethanol produced from biomass such as plant fibre, corn, and other grains;

3) Fuel cell vehicles -- develop refueling infrastructure for fuel-cell vehicles that emit low or zero emissions;

4) Freight transportation -- encourage efficiencies and technologies in the aviation, rail, marine, and trucking industries; and 5) Urban transportation -- demonstrate the best urban transportation technologies and strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." (Planning for Sustainability, 2000)

Stated as well is the FCM is at the municipal level has made a commitment to:

1) Adopt policies that favor public transit over private automobiles;

2) Review their transportation policies with a view to shifting to environmentally friendly modes of transportation;

3) Ensure that infrastructure required to support alternate modes of transportation, such as walking and cycling, is adequate." (Planning for Sustainability, 2000)

Sustainable transportation in Canada is being overseen by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, created by the province of Quebec in 1996 which is a provincial agency that coordinates the planning and funding of public transportation in the Montreal region. The agency receives revenue from a dedicated gasoline tax of 1.5 cents per litre collected within the region and a vehicle license surcharge of $30 per vehicle in the region." (Paraphrased) The province of Alberta approved the funding of transportation capital in Calgary and Edmonton in 1999 that provisions of the funding of 5 cents per liter of fuels taxes that are collected in those regions. It is stated that: "Calgary and Edmonton have integrated governance structures that allow them to plan and implement sustainable transportation policies on a comprehensive basis." (Ibid)

Additionally stated is that: "In 1999, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and the Province of British Columbia created the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink) to provide transit, funding and coordination of major roads, transportation demand management, and the motor vehicle emission testing system known locally as AirCare. TransLink has access to a number of transportation-related revenue sources, including fares and a share of the existing provincial fuel tax (initially 8 cents per litre and rising to 10 cents per litre by 2005)." (Ibid)

The article relates that in Canada exists what is referred to as the federal "Auto-$mart Program" which gives helpful tips on."..buying, driving, and maintaining..." vehicles to the motorists in Canada which is geared toward the reduction of fuel consumptions and greenhouse gas emissions as well as promoting.".. energy-efficient practices through publications, events, and joint projects, as well as a kit for student drivers available to driving instructors across Canada." (Ibid) In 1986 the federal department of the Canadian environment."..initiated a vehicle emissions inspection program..." And has also."..organized voluntary vehicle emissions clinics in conjunction with various regional organizations in both the public and private sectors." (Ibid) Additionally, clean driving programs are operated in many of the Canadian provinces which is stated to have averaged in its first year."...fuel savings equal to more than 120,000 fill-ups for a midsize car, resulting in an estimated 6.7% reduction in the emission of smog-causing pollutants." (Ibid)

However, it is stated in the work of Robert Paehlke entitled: "Environmentalism in One Country: Canadian Environmental Policy in an Era of Globalization" that: "In sharp contrast with its international reputation and self-image as a leading national advocate of environmental protection initiatives, Canada has, in the 1990s, reduced its environmental expenditures and initiatives. The most dramatic and visible retreat has been in terms of expenditures, especially at the federal level and in Ontario, the largest and most industrialized province. In addition, again especially in Ontario, following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the provincial election of 1995, environmental protection has been explicitly and openly curtailed. Possible explanations for the decline of environmental protection in Canada include: a) the effects of globalization on a trade-oriented middle power, b) counterwaves of environmental and economic concern among the public, and c) excessive decentralization of political authority with regard to environmental protection." (Paehlke, 2000)

I. THE UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

In a June 2, 2006 report entitled: Canada Pays Environmentally for U.S. Oil Thirst" published in the Seattle Times stated is that:

Huge mines here turning tarry sand into cash for Canada and oil for the United States are taking an unexpectedly high environmental toll, sucking water from rivers and natural gas from wells and producing large amounts of gases linked to global warming. The digging has proliferated at gold-rush speed, spurred by high oil prices, new technology and an unquenched U.S. thirst for the fuel. The expansion has presented ecological problems that experts thought they would have decades to resolve. "The river used to be blue. Now it's brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast," said Elsie Fabian, 63, an elder in a native Indian community along the Athabasca River, a wide, meandering waterway once plied by fur traders. "It's terrible. We're surrounded by the mines." (Seattle Times, 2 June 2006)

Stated online the Environment Canada website in the work entitled: "CCME Task Force on Cleaner Vehicles, Engines and Fuels" is the fact that: "The Canadian and U.S. auto industry is fully integrated. While the Canadian market represents only 8% of total new vehicle sales, Canadian automotive production plays a major role in North American production. Designing a specific vehicle for Canada to meet a distinct set of Canadian emission requirements would be inefficient from a manufacturing point-of-view, while at the same time increasing costs to the consumer. These considerations strongly argue for the continuation of harmonizing Canadian vehicle emissions standards with those in the U.S. "(2005)

II. PROBLEMS WITH CANADIAN POLICY RELATED TO CARBON EMISSIONS

In the work of Macdonald (1994) entitled: "Green Taxation and Environmental Policies" it is stated that: "The most politically contentious proposal in Canada for use of the tax system to achieve environmental objectives is the call by environmentalists concerned about global warming for a "carbon tax" - a tax on fuel which increases with the relative carbon content of the fuel, thus encouraging a shift to fuels which emit less carbon dioxide when burnt. Discussion of the carbon tax proposal has brought to the fore one of the primary problems with the use of tax as a policy instrument - the fear that deficit-laden governments will be more interested in the revenue-generating potential of a given green tax than in its ability to modify environmentally destructive behaviour, thus limiting its usefulness as a policy instrument. Western Canada, still smarting from the perceived injustice of the National Energy Program, has decried the carbon tax as a "tax grab" - leading Prime Minister Chretien to tell a Calgary audience last summer: "Relax, relax. It's not on the table, and it will not be on the table." (5) [Quoted in Terence Corcoran, "Goodbye carbon tax, hello sanity," The Globe and Mail Report on Business, June 1, 1994.]

In a report entitled: "Oilsands Sector Shudders Under Growing Cost and Environmental Pressures" it is stated that the northern Alberta oilsands."..face runaway costs, unbridled development and mounting environmental concerns. But with oil prices hitting new record highs about U.S.$75 per barrel last week amidst mounting political troubles in some of the world's largest oil producing regions, frenzied expansion in the oilsands could potentially continue." (Stephenson, 2006) However the costs were not the only listed concern in relation to the oilsands as stated was: "Environmental concerns also hit the headlines, with former U.S. presidential candidate Al Gore saying oilsands production was a huge waste of natural gas and a major environmental mess. And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape, all for one barrel of oil," Gore said in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. It is truly nuts. But you know, junkies find veins in their toes. It seems reasonable, to them, because they've lost sight of the rest of their lives. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein retaliated, saying: "I don't know what he proposes the world run on, maybe hot air." Late last week, the Syncrude joint venture, which is the largest oilsands development in the world, announced plans to re-start its… READ MORE

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