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Canada simply has no excuse for lagging behind other countries in making environmental sustainability a cornerstone of a healthy and prosperous society. As one of the world's most highly educated and economically successful societies, we have the knowledge, the means and the opportunity to address the historic environmental challenges that threaten human civilization in this, the climate century. Over the next four years, the federal government must harness the full power of this country's wealth, knowledge and influence to ensure that we become leaders in developing a truly sustainable and healthy society.
[ + ]How Canada can make a world of difference:
Canada's environmental leaders provide their insights and ideas on how to make this country a leader in sustainability.
This election seems to have many Canadians scratching their heads: What’s it about? Who to vote for? Why vote at all? The answers to these questions depend on whether you think the environment – and more particularly taking action on climate change right now – really matters. Let’s put this election in its real context: We [...]
The battle over bottled water is on, and cities and town across Canada are leading the way, turning the tide on water bottlers. They are small victories, but quickly adding up. The latest municipality to catch the wave, at the time of writing this, was Waterloo Region in southern Ontario. But earlier [...]
How Can an Election Today Get Us Ahead Tomorrow?
With it all but certain now that Canadians are heading into a federal election this fall, it will be critical for every voter to ask themselves - “with my vote today, what will we achieve in environmental security tomorrow?” Our report “Tomorrow Today: How Canada can make a world of difference” www.tomorrowtodaycanada.ca outlines concrete actions [...]
The poo-lluted shark that’s closing Ontario beaches
We’re having some strange weather this summer in southern Ontario. Record rainfalls. Localized flooding. Reports of Tornadoes. All this after near record snowfalls this winter. While most of this has done great things for my garden, the extreme weather events are wreaking havoc on lakes and rivers, and have briefly closed beaches in cities across [...]
Toxic Chemicals in Products: Federal Action Needed
Despite the upsurge in public concern for environmental and health issues, Canada has one of the western world’s most outdated systems for controlling toxic chemicals in consumer products. And an increasing amount of the toxic load in our bodies comes from everyday household items like vinyl shower curtains, plastic baby bottles and reusable water bottles, [...]
Tax or Trade? With the right price, both will drive down carbon pollution
If you’ve been following the carbon pricing discussion in the media, you may have the impression that there’s a battle raging in Canada between “cap-and-trade” systems and carbon taxes, with political parties and media pundits choosing one side or the other. From our perspective, this “battle” is more a question of rhetoric than reality, because the [...]
With the release of the Liberal team’s carbon tax (thegreenshift.ca/default_e.aspx), finally the debate about putting a price on carbon dioxide pollution has hit the mainstream. For years the environmental movement (www.tomorrowtodaycanada.ca) and academic economists (www.emrg.sfu.ca/sustainablefossilfuels/)(www.cdhowe.org) (www.sustainableprosperity.ca/) have been saying the only way we will seriously reduce pollution is by putting a price on it - with [...]
Time to take a time-out on tar sands…
Today we released a report called “Upgrader Alley” which looks at the potential scale of environmental impacts due to a massive expansion in upgrading capacity for the tar sands in the Edmonton area (http://www.pembina.org/pub/1654). It is quite shocking to realize just how much of a scar developing the tar sands at the current pace is [...]
Meeting Canada’s international obligations on climate change
In an article in yesterday’s Globe and Mail, columnist Jeffrey Simpson wrote about how Canada has the worst record of any country that signed Kyoto Protocol. It’s easy to understand why Canada is being singled out for criticism. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has abandoned Canada’s commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and has shown an aversion [...]
You Are What You Eat. The Questions Is: WHAT Are You Eating?
At three meals a day you would think we would have a better read on what we are eating and feeding to our kids, but in fact a lot of the ingredients remain a mystery. Sadly that sits well with the agriculture industry and some of our elected representatives. Agriculture is estimated to contribute over 7% [...]
