As Canada’s Parliament returns to session this fall, we must make sure that a green and just recovery is the government’s top priority. We don’t have a moment to lose – big polluters have been busy lobbying for bailouts and exemptions from environmental rules.
Environmental Law Alert Blog
Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:
- proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
- stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
- emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.
If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.
Summer 2020 has been intense, to say the least – but luckily this summer we've had a group of dedicated law students to energize and inspire our work at West Coast.
Why is Canada’s final Strategic Assessment of Climate Change (SACC) like a self-help book? They both contain helpful information, but at the end of the day, there’s no guarantee that they’ll influence real-life decisions.
The federal government is preparing to give the Canadian economy a multi-billion-dollar kick-start in an effort to recover from the COVID-19 health crisis. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in a Green Recovery – a sustainable stimulus package focused on increasing employment and helping Canada transition to a cleaner and more equitable economy.
How can Canada meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets and break its cycle of failing grades? Implement a Canadian Climate Accountability Act.
It’s been encouraging to see reports that three federal ministers have been leading internal discussions about “green” COVID-19 stimulus funding for infrastructure: the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
Three is nice, but four would be better. Wouldn’t it be great to see the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, at the table?
By Rayanna Seymour-Hourie – on Canada’s 153rd birthday
In mid-April, as BC was ramping up its response to COVID-19, a wildfire burned through more than 200 hectares north of Squamish, leading to the evacuation of about 30 homes.
On Friday June 12, the Trans Mountain pipeline spilled an estimated 190,000 litres of oil at the Sumas Pump Station near Abbotsford, BC. This is the 85th oil spill from the nearly 70-year-old pipeline, confirming the fears of many that oil spills are inevitable.
After COVID-19, let's build BC back better – in ways that fight climate change, inequality & injustice.