Thank you.
These principles are found widely in sustainable development legislation both at the provincial level here in Canada, and in international sustainable development laws. Take the first one, the polluter-pays principle. We hear a lot of talk in Canada about the polluter-pays principle, yet when we look at international comparisons we find that Canada uses pollution taxes to a much lesser degree than any other western industrialized country. Including this principle in the Federal Sustainable Development Act would send a clear signal to all departments and agencies, including Finance and Treasury Board, that their policies, plans, and actions, including the budget, should apply the polluter-pays principle.
A second principle from my list is the principle of environmental justice. This is a principle that means that the adverse effects of environmental harms and the benefits of environmental amenities should be equitably or fairly shared among Canadians. That's not the situation we have in Canada today. For example, we know that one in four poor Canadians lives within a kilometre of a major source of industrial air pollution. That's not the case for wealthier Canadians. We know the wealthier neighbourhoods in our cities have greater access to public parks and green spaces. Putting the principle of environmental justice into the act would send a signal that we need to start taking this into consideration in our laws, policies, plans, and programs.
The idea behind incorporating all these principles into the act is that they provide a framework and guidance for departments and agencies that don't currently exist, and the absence of those principles is resulting in poor performance and poor strategies as we see with the draft 2016-19 sustainable development strategy.