News Release

VANCOUVER –  After years of opposing environmentally-damaging federal policies and laws, the Wilderness Committee is looking forward to working with the newly-minted federal government to improve relations and better protect Canada’s environment.

“Whether it is safeguarding our bees, tackling climate change or stopping the Site C dam, Canadians need strong federal leadership and progressive environmental laws,” said Gwen Barlee, Policy Director with the Wilderness Committee. “Although it is early days, we are pleased to see the federal government has pledged to step up to the plate on environmental protections.”

Over the past several years, environmentalists have been dismayed by a series of federal decisions that resulted in draconian environmental rollbacks, gutting of fish habitat protection, CRA targeting of environmental organizations, weakening of species at risk legislation and inaction on climate change.

Canada’s new government has pledged to improve environmental assessments, provide “appropriate” regulatory oversight, stop the muzzling of scientists, make environmental decisions based on science, remove political interference from federal environmental assessments, “do more” to protect Canada’s endangered species and “restore lost protections” in the Navigable Waters Act and the Fisheries Act.

There has also been a commitment to stop the “political harassment of charities.” Numerous environmental organizations were audited by the CRA in recent years, with critics expressing concern that the CRA was targeting environmental organizations that had been critical of poor environmental policies enacted by the previous federal government.

“The list of commitments by the new federal government to protect Canada’s environment is a very significant step in the right direction,” said Eric Reder, the Wilderness Committee’s Manitoba Campaign Director. “We look forward to sitting down with the government and putting meat on the bones of these policy initiatives, especially in regards to addressing climate change – the most pressing issue of our time.”

–30–

For more information, please contact:

Gwen Barlee | Policy Director, Wilderness Committee
gwen@wildernesscommittee.org, 604-202-0322

Eric Reder | Manitoba Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee
eric@wildernesscommittee.org, 204-997-8584