It's in Tory genes to go green

The Globe and Mail
February 6, 2006

RICK SMITH AND ADAM DAIFALLAH

In a minority "pizza Parliament," where co-operation between parties will be a prerequisite to getting anything done, there exists at least one priority common to the Conservative, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois platforms.

It's a problem that is generally acknowledged to be the cause of widespread illness and premature death in tens of thousands of Canadian adults and children every year.

It's a concern that, because of the mandatory review of an important national law, will be first up on the agenda when Parliament returns.

The issue is pollution. An area where prime-minister-designate Stephen Harper can not only find common ground with other parties, and make a real difference in the lives of ordinary Canadians, but one where there exists an impressive Conservative tradition just waiting to be dusted off and rehabilitated.

As Brian Mulroney noted last year, when he was awarded the "Greenest Prime Minister in Canadian History" award by Corporate Knights magazine (by a jury of mostly Canadian environmentalists, it should be noted), the environment is an important part of the Conservative political heritage.

Sir John A. Macdonald established Banff as the nation's first national park. R.B. Bennett, another Conservative prime minister from Alberta, passed the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, a significant environmental law that made Prairie agriculture possible again after the dustbowl of the 1930s.

Mr. Mulroney elevated environment to a national priority and famously led the fight against acid rain. It is in this tradition that Stephen Harper will be acting if he delivers on the Conservative platform commitment to clean up smog and water pollution, and protect the Great Lakes.

And this action can't come a moment too soon.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ranks Canada's environmental performance near the bottom of the barrel among industrialized nations. The Ontario Medical Association estimates that 5,800 premature deaths are caused in Ontario alone by air pollution every year.

A study released last month by the NAFTA Commission on Environmental Co-operation found that one in 10 Canadian children suffer from asthma aggravated by air pollution. These reports only confirm what has become increasingly apparent: Within a few short years, Canada has gone from environmental leader to environmental retrograde. Smog is the new normal across many parts of the country. "Boil water" advisories are a permanent fact of life in many Canadian communities. And a recent study by Environmental Defence (http://www.toxicnation.ca) found that our bodies are contaminated by a cocktail of toxic pollutants that we absorb through our air, water and food.

This increase in pollution has done an interesting thing. It has mobilized unlikely allies: doctors and municipal leaders, businesses and trade unions. And it has shattered the narrow "environment" public-policy pigeon-hole, and positioned this issue squarely in the mainstream of Canadians' concern for their quality of life and the health of their families.

The recent fixation by some pundits on differences between party platforms when it comes to climate-change policy has obscured the fact that all four parties agree that pollution requires urgent attention. The Conservative commitments are specific and potentially helpful. The new government's resolve will be put to the test as soon as Parliament resumes and begins a scheduled review of Canada's overarching pollution law, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).

Through CEPA, the government has the opportunity to work with the other parties to eliminate the most toxic substances that place our health at risk, and accelerate reduction of other serious pollutants. Pollution-prevention measures -- to avoid creating pollution through industrial processes in the first place -- must be implemented. Industry laggards should be made to clean up their act, and industry leaders rewarded. Market forces should be harnessed to encourage environmentally friendly business practices. Other nations are already busy cleaning up the environment with such initiatives and it is time Canada does the same.

Special focus must be put on Canada's largest pollution hot spot: the Great Lakes basin. Nearly half of all toxic air pollution in Canada, and over one-third of all water pollution, occur in the basin. Through CEPA, and through the upcoming review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with the United States, the federal government has the opportunity to achieve real reductions in pollution in an area that is home to 10 million Canadians.

In response to receiving his "Greenest Prime Minister" award, Mr. Mulroney said that "when you get to my age, after you've been Prime Minister for a long time, you look back on certain things and you say, 'Ah . . . how could I be so stupid? Why did I do this when I should've done that?' I don't feel that way about the environment. I think there are a lot of things we missed, but I think we did a lot of the big things that we should have. And I'm glad we did."

We sincerely hope that, in the future, prime minister Harper will be able to enjoy the same satisfied reflections on his own legacy of protecting the environment and human health.

Rick Smith is executive director of Environmental Defence. Adam Daifallah is the co-author of Rescuing Canada's Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution.