OTTAWA – Today, Canada’s leading environmental organizations released the answers to a Federal Party Survey on Environmental Platforms that address the climate change, biodiversity, toxics and waste crises harming our country. The survey was distributed to the six main political parties in July 2019 and responses were received from five of them: the Bloc Quebecois, Conservative Party of Canada, Green Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada and New Democratic Party. The People’s Party of Canada did not respond.
The survey represents the collective priorities of the 14 environmental organizations and outlines required actions to address the environmental protection, economic justice and human rights issues facing Canadians. This non-partisan survey of the parties’ positions on environmental issues was developed to help Canadians make informed voting decisions.
Summary of Parties’ responses (see summary chart here):
- Bloc, Green, Liberal and NDP parties said that they would legislate a climate plan to reduce Canada’s emissions in line with keeping warming below 1.5°C; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green, Liberal and NDP parties said that their climate plan would describe programs to reduce emissions from transportation, buildings and the oil and gas sector; Conservatives did not
- Green, Liberal and NDP parties answered that they will ensure workers and their families thrive during the transition to a low-carbon economy, by extending the Task Force on Just Transition to include all fossil fuel industries; Bloc’s response was partial; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green and NDP parties said they would ensure fossil fuel projects will not be approved unless they are consistent with limiting emissions in Canada to keep warming below the 1.5°C threshold; Liberals’ response was partial; Conservatives did not
- Green, Liberal and NDP parties answered that they will champion a connected and representative protected areas network of at least 30 per cent of land, freshwater and ocean by 2030; Bloc and Conservative parties did not
- Bloc, Green, Liberal, and NDP parties said they would ensure Canada’s federally protected lands, freshwater and oceans are managed to the highest international standards for ecological integrity; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green, Liberal, and NDP parties said they would protect Canadians from pesticides, pollution and toxics in everyday products by modernizing the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and strengthening federal regulation of pesticides; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green, Liberal, and NDP parties said they would work with other levels of government to implement a national strategy that includes a ban on the production, sale and distribution of the most problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics, and that works to create a circular economy focused on reuse; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green, NDP parties said they would create a Federal Environmental Bill of Rights that formally recognizes the legal right to a healthy environment; Liberal’s response was partial; Conservatives did not
- Bloc, Green, NDP and Liberal parties said they would uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the protection of Indigenous and treaty rights; Conservatives did not
The survey represents the collective priorities of the following organizations: Canadian Environmental Law Association, CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecology Action Centre, Ecojustice, Équiterre, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace, Nature Canada, Pembina Institute, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, West Coast Environmental Law Association, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, WWF-Canada
The Federal Party Survey on Environmental Platforms can be found at www.election2019envirosurvey.ca / www.election2019ecosondage.ca
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For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Brendan Glauser, David Suzuki Foundation, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org, 604-356-8829