Liberals Table Irresponsible and Far-Reaching Report on the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
June 15, 2017FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOttawa, ON – Conservative Members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development today presented a dissenting report in response to the Liberal Committee Report on the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 titled Healthy Environment, Healthy Canadians, Healthy Economy: Strengthening the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (the "CEPA Report").Conservative committee members believe that the CEPA Report represents a lost opportunity to properly modernize the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) in a way that builds on its strengths, meets the new environmental challenges of the 21st century, and delivers a broad consensus amongst the many key stakeholders. We strongly believe that the CEPA Report is neither comprehensive nor credible. Relying on the testimony of a select few witnesses, the Report recommends an overhaul of Canada’s cornerstone environmental legislation by increasing red-tape, moving away from regulatory alignment with our largest trading partner, and adopting a system of chemicals management that was described by officials at Environment and Climate Change Canada as inefficient and ineffective.“It is our hope that the Government of Canada recognizes that the CEPA Report is unworkable and inconsistent with good governance practices or credible evidence-based policy development,” noted Committee Vice-Chair MP Eglinski. “Over a year of parliamentary resources were misspent on this review.”“Sadly, the Liberal recommendations are not adequately borne out by supporting testimony and evidence before Committee,” noted Conservative Environment and Climate Change Critic MP Fast. “The Liberal recommendations favour a wholesale re-make of Canada’s environmental protection regime that could have a profoundly chilling effect on Canada’s economic competitiveness.”The Conservative committee members believe that, had this study been more focused and more time been allocated to receiving critical testimony, this Report could have represented another step forward in improving Canada's environmental protection regime.-30-Contact:Brad VisOffice of the Hon. Ed Fast613-853-0547Ed.fast.a1@parl.gc.ca