Environment committee  That would be a pleasure. First of all, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. Why does Canada need an environmental bill of rights? I believe there are four compelling reasons. The first is Canada' s poor environmental record. This record has been demon

Environment committee  If I could, I will just add one thing to what Professor Elgie has said. Another significant distinction between a private prosecution and the environmental protection actions that are available under this environmental bill of rights is that a private prosecution is always afte

Environment committee  I'm not that familiar with the federal whistle-blower legislation, so I'll pass the torch to Professor Elgie.

Environment committee  No, I haven't, but there is a very strong pattern of correlation. My research confirms publications of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. They conduct environmental performance reviews of national environmental performance every five years for OECD member

Environment committee  I think what you have to consider when you're thinking in broad terms about the right to a healthy environment is that it's really like any other human right, whether it's the right to freedom of expression or the right to freedom of religion; it's a broad concept and it's actual

Environment committee  I'll tackle that. I actually have several pages in my brief talking about all of the international declarations and resolutions that recognize the right to a healthy environment. When you combine those international resolutions and declarations with the state practice of 170 out

Environment committee  No. The intention of recognizing that Canadians have a responsibility to protect the environment is actually not meant to be enforceable. It's meant to be encouraging and hortatory, if you will. There are 80 national constitutions that include a citizen's duty to protect the en

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair, honourable members, and Commissioner Gelfand. I'd like to start by complimenting the committee on tackling this subject of the Federal Sustainable Development Act. It's potentially a very important tool in accelerating Canada's progress towards

Environment committee  I have one final recommendation, and that is to create a parliamentary committee for the future, which is something that Finland did. Finland has 17 members of Parliament on a committee for the future that really looks into the future to try to identify what challenges we're goin

Environment committee  I'll take a different perspective from the earlier witness. It is really useful, and this is a good context, to look at Canada's performance benchmarked against other wealthy western industrialized nations. There is an independent, non-partisan, highly respected think tank based

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Cullen. Yes, I would say that the European Union has a law that requires strategic environmental assessment. They have a high degree of compliance with that law because it's a legal obligation. There are consequences that flow if the obligation is not fulfilled.

Environment committee  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

Environment committee  I think it's important to distinguish between the broad sustainable development objectives that Canada has as a country. For example, Canada wants to and aspires to become a low-carbon economy. That's a broad objective, and then the targets are the kinds of specific numerically m

Environment committee  Yes, I can't say that I've seen those kinds of innovative tools in Europe. I know that in some Latin American countries there are financial penalties both for senior civil servants and for politicians who fail to comply with legal requirements, but that's not something that is re

Environment committee  Thank you. If the government doesn't comply with its own legislated requirements, the consequences are that citizens, members of the public, can then hold the government accountable by taking them to court. If you look back at the history of environmental assessment in Canada w