Canadian Government's Indifference to Endangered Species
10/10/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environment-Canada: GOV'T Indifference to Endangered Species
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 10, 1999
OTTAWA, (Oct. 10) IPS - The U.S. government joined outraged
environmentalists last week in demanding that Canada do more to
protect endangered species of wildlife.
President Clinton met privately with Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien for several hours and discussed a letter from a group of
U.S. Republican and Democratic senators who want Canada to bring in a
tough new endangered species law.
During Chretien's six years in office, his government's stance on
environmental legislation has been under fire from environmentalists
for failing to provide adequate protection to wildlife. Many critics
have alleged the legislation is a watering down of existing laws and
government bills have twice failed to pass Canada's two houses of
Parliament.
Clinton came to Ottawa on Oct. 8 to officially open the new U.S.
embassy here and address a 30-country forum on the future of
federalism.
In an effort to maintain the "feel-good" atmosphere of the visit,
government spokeswoman Jennifer Lang downplayed the issue of the
endangered species dispute, saying that she did not even know if
Clinton talked about the senators' concerns during the meeting
between the two leaders.
Presidential sources, however, said the issue certainly was raised.
The criticism of the Canadian government by both U.S. senators and
local environmentalists has created a strange alliance.
Usually, Canadian activists are critical of the U.S. for cross-
border pollution, but the environmental group Greenpeace agrees that
Canada has failed to live up to commitments made to the United States
and other nations to protect biodiversity.
"There are hundreds of species in Canada currently in danger of
extinction (including the Beluga whale, the spotted owl and the
grizzly bear) while others already have been lost. Legislation to
protect endangered species in Canada is long overdue to match federal
U.S. laws that protect endangered species," environmentalists
declared.
Canada made an international commitment to producing an Endangered
Species Act when it became the first signatory to the Rio Convention
on Biodiversity in 1992 (required under Article 8), Greenpeace said.
"Canada has not lived up to that agreement."
The organization hopes that Environment Minister, David Anderson,
will bring in another bill during the next session of Parliament that
will address the accusations that the Canadian government is easing
environmental restrictions and making only a token effort to protect
endangered species.
The letter from the U.S. senators may carry added weight in Ottawa as
it raises questions about "unfair subsidies" for resource producers
who are not obliged to spend money to protect the habitat, as do U.S.
logging and mining companies.
"The United States spends millions of dollars and exerts a lot of
political effort to save species, like grizzly bears and wolves but,
once they cross the 49th parallel, they can be legally shot as
pests," the senators said.
The senators claim Canadian companies are reaping the benefits of
Canada's lack of endangered species protection.
Their letter said resource-based industries in Canada have an unfair
advantage over U.S. businesses because American companies must share
the costs of protecting or recovering an endangered species.
The senators point out that a timber company in the Canadian province
of British Columbia can log without concern for the habitat of the
spotted owl but American logging companies must obey tough laws that
protect these endangered birds.
The senators, representing nearly every U.S. state, said that if
Canada doesn't follow suit, it could affect trade relations between
the two countries.
Under NAFTA and World Trade Organization rules, Canada's lack of
tough endangered species laws could be condemned as unfair subsidies,
the U.S. legislators say.
The senators and environmental groups like Greenpeace are angry that
the proposed environmental bills protect wildlife in only four
percent of Canada's huge wilderness area. Much of it is outside the
territory in the boreal forest and the Pacific rainforest that is
clearcut by the country's loggers.
So far, activists say, government legislation has done little to
protect species in the arctic or subarctic regions of the country,
areas that are most vulnerable to pollution caused by mining and oil
and gas exploration.
Greenpeace said it was appalling that the prposed legislation applies
only to species in four percent of Canada's territory. In addition,
habitat protection is not guaranteed for any species, and it is the
destruction of habitats that is responsible for 80 percent of species
decline in Canada.
"Canada needs an effective Endangered Species Act," Greenpeace said.
"A recent poll found that 94 percent of Canadians support endangered
species legislation. The legislation that is proposed is a
'greenwash' -- and may be worse than having none at all."