When Canada knew how to lead on the environment

This is Environment Week in Canada. It was created decades ago by an act of Parliament to raise awareness and support environmental action. The first week of June was chosen in order to bracket June 5, World Environment Day. Back in the 1980s, when I was the senior policy advisor to the minster of the environment, Environment Week was an opportunity for community projects, big and small. The $1-million available to environmental groups was split into grants as small as $500 per group. It was not a lot of money, but it was well-spent on necessary community projects. The issues we worked on then have largely been resolved—the threats solved. We didn’t obsess about whether Canadians were ready for government action. Decisions were based on science and evidence. If a threat required action, action was taken. Leaded gas a major public health problem, reducing the intellectual capacity of children across North America? Solution: Ban lead in gasoline. Acid rain a scourge caused by sulphur dioxide pollution in Canada and the United States? Solution: Slash emissions by 50 per cent through negotiations—one province at a time—with the seven eastern provinces, leading to legally binding agreements, and then get the U.S. to match our effort. DDT threatening species, ecosystems; and public health? Solution: Ban DDT Phosphates in detergents causing deteriorating water quality, over-fertilization, and eutrophication? Solution: Ban phosphates in detergents. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) bio-accumulating and threatening health? Solution: Ban PCBs. Use of chlorofluorocarbons—once thought to be benign, stable, “miracle” chemicals—floating to the stratosphere and attacking the ozone layer, the layer that protects the Earth from the sun’s most dangerous, harmful UV rays? Solution: Lead the world in the development of a treaty to eliminate those chemicals. It would not be accurate to leave the impression that all problems were solved, but then, much more than now, governments acted even if industry objected. In the case of acid rain, Inco threatened to close down if the Ontario government of David Peterson insisted on reducing sulphur dioxide pollution. But political resolve led the industry to comply. The result was the addition of scrubbers, capturing sulphur and selling it, creating a new profit centre in Inco operations. Sure, it took decades to get the Sydney tar ponds cleaned up, and Canada never did ban Agent Orange, letting its registration lapse when action in the U.S. banned export of the killing herbicide, but still, it is hard to miss the contrast with how governments have reacted to the climate crisis. I find it incredible that so many conservative politicians fail to believe in Canada’s talent for moving world opinion. We are, against all odds given our recent record, still respected in the world. We may be a relatively small contributor to global warming, but we can and must do more than pull our own weight. We must punch above our weight if our children are to have a livable world. Claiming we are too small to make a difference is an odd way to establish credentials of leadership. I cannot think of any other issue where Canadian politicians would proudly proclaim their own country as irrelevant. In the 80s, Canada led in the successful efforts to save the ozone layer. Were we a big contributor to ozone layer thinning? Not at all. Did Canadian operations contribute in a small way to the hole opening up over Antarctica? No. Similarly, we led the charge for a treaty to ban land mines. The Ottawa Treaty has saved thousands upon thousands of lives. Did we ever use or manufacture land mines? No we did not. But leadership can come with clean hands. In 2019, true Canadian leaders acknowledge that as a fossil-fuel producing country, with one of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the world, we are ideally placed to increase the resolve of the community of nations to stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible. We must double our current target, from that developed under Harper and maintained under Trudeau, from 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, to an ambitious goal of 60 per cent by 2030 and zero by 2050. It can be done because it must be done. It is time to dust off the tools of global leadership. It is not too late. It is Mission: Possible. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May represents Saanich–Gulf Islands, B.C. The Hill Times