Canadian Environmental Policy

Over the last decade, the context for environmental policy-making in Canada has undergone significant change. The late 1980s saw growing awareness of the magnitude of environmental degradation, rising levels of public concern, flashes of political will, and the formulation of both new domestic laws and international agreements via more consultative processes. By the early 1990s, however, the environment took a back seat as government devolved, deregulated, and destaffed. Now, in the...
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Over the last decade, the context for environmental policy-making in Canada has undergone significant change. The late 1980s saw growing awareness of the magnitude of environmental degradation, rising levels of public concern, flashes of political will, and the formulation of both new domestic laws and international agreements via more consultative processes. By the early 1990s, however, the environment took a back seat as government devolved, deregulated, and destaffed. Now, in the post-deficit era, the future of the Canadian environmental policy regime is ambiguous. This new edition of Canadian Environmental Policy highlights the myriad obstacles that stand in the way of efforts to craft stronger laws to protect the Canadian environment, among them liberal economic ideals, low levels of public concern, centre-periphery inequalities, and continental integration. Part One of this essential text analyzes the legal, instrumental, and institutional factors that shape policy, along with the competing jurisdictions and interests--interdepartmental, federal, provincial, business and industry, First Nations, bilateral, international--that form the gauntlet through which any proposed policy must pass. Part Two details specific cases involving environmental policy, including rural communities and remote resource-rich areas of the country, smog, agricultural pollution, global climate change, and the 'new biotechnology' of genetic engineering and its potential environmental impacts. The book also includes selected bibliographies on a range of other environmental policy issues.