As global leaders meet this week to address the challenge of sustaining the world’s plant, animal and human life, the Harper government is once again contributing the bare minimum to the global effort as they try to hide their appalling environmental record from the international community, Liberal MPs said today.
“The Conservatives’ streak of diplomatic failures continues with their lack of transparency on Canada’s position at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity,” said Liberal Environment Critic Gerard Kennedy. “Canada quietly released their domestic assessments on ecosystem health under the cover of darkness in advance of this week’s event in Japan, with no notice to the public or the media. What are they trying to hide from Canadians?”
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity gets underway in Nagoya, Japan, this week. Canada’s report, posted quietly online last Friday, highlights major areas where the Conservative government isn’t doing enough:
- Our grasslands are under threat;
- Canada’s coastal and marine environment is getting worse;
- Our arctic ice is melting due to the effects of climate change;
- Invasive species are threatening native plant and animal life; and
- Canada lacks long-term biodiversity monitoring systems.
“The Harper government’s dismal performance at the Copenhagen summit on climate change was a contributing factor to their overwhelming loss in the UN Security Council vote,” said Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae. “When will the Conservatives realize that multilateralism is in Canada’s DNA, and that we should be working with other countries to protect the integrity of our ecosystems?”
There has been no public consultation process in the lead-up to the summit. The government has conducted private consultations, mostly with businesses. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s main goal is to agree to a plan for the next decade to conserve and sustain biodiversity, while trying to promote a fair and equitable sharing of benefits made from plant and animal life.
“The Conservatives refusal to engage the public on these issues makes it impossible to set substantive targets to prevent the disintegration of our ecosystems,” said Mr. Kennedy. “While the government’s standard operating procedure is withholding information to avoid embarrassment, Liberals have made a series of commitments to safeguard our arctic, marine and boreal ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain.”
This summer the Department of Fisheries and Oceans released a devastating report on the state of marine ecosystems in Canada that indicated that the machinery of our marine systems is crumbling.
“Canadians care deeply about the crisis in the planet’s ecosystems,” said Mr. Rae. “The Harper government should have engaged Canadians on this issue in the lead-up to the Convention, and should now be engaging other countries on the best way forward.
“The Conservative government’s refusal to work with other countries on shared challenges will continue to weaken our country – whether it comes to defence, the environment, or our economy,” concluded Mr. Rae. “It’s time for a change in direction.”
BACKGROUND
While the Conservatives continue to be environmental pariahs, the Liberal Party of Canada is committed to re-positioning Canada as a global leader in environmental conservation by taking innovative and decisive actions to better conserve, restore and maintain the long-term health of our ecosystems. Liberals will:
- Address the problems of dwindling water resources and water pollution, and clean up areas of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Winnipeg;
- Formalize the existing B.C. crude oil tanker moratorium, through regulation, legislation or both;
- Expand Canada’s marine protected areas network and establish timelines and targets to implement integrated ocean management and ocean zoning to support conservation and our ocean economy;
- Create a world-leading oil spill contingency plan in partnership with the provinces;
- Work with provinces to reach their goals of protecting 50 percent of their boreal forests; and
- Defend Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage and work towards an international treaty to govern the protection of the Arctic.
