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.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

Postmedia reporter, Mike DeSouza, has recently released several slides from Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff explaining how the current Canadian Fisheries Act is intended to protect fish habitat, including a slide clearly setting out the current legal pro

Denmark, and in particular Copenhagen, is the world’s poster-child for bicycle-friendly transportation.   But that’s partly because they have aggressive goals for what transportation should look like.  Have a look at Copenhagen’s Transportation Pyramid, which prioritizes biking and walking over all other modes of transportation.  My parents took

Bill C-38, the Budget Implementation Bill, with its various amendments to Canada’s environmental laws, is a complicated statute, with many long-term implications that have not been fully explored.  On

On May 31, 2012, I travelled to Ottawa, on behalf of West Coast Environmental Law Association, to speak in person about the budget bill’s attack on nature and democracy to the <

If you tried to access our website on June 4th you would have found a dark site, with an invitation to join us and over 500 organisations from across Canada in the Black Out Speak Out/Silence, On Parle campaign.

Campaigns to ensure that BC’s environmental laws protect the environment and allow democratic voices to be heard can take years.  Or, as we saw last week, they can result in a win for the environment in a matter of weeks. 

When a politician says that his report is about the science, and not about the politics, it’s probably wise to take that claim with a grain of salt.  That’s made crystal clear by two studies released in the last month about the risks of pesticides – one written by politicians, and the other by scientists. 

The phrase “job killing regulation” is beginning to enter Canadian discussions about environmental laws and Bill C-38 – the Budget Implementation Bill which would repeal several laws that protect nature, democracy and marginalized society.  This phrase has been embraced by politicians in the U.S.

You may have read about a provision in the proposed Animal Health Act which would make it illegal for journalists or scientists to report on animal illnesses at fish farms or other agricultural operations.