By now, you should know that the Government of Canada introduced its Economic Action Plan earlier this year. And of course, money is going out the window to municipalise and etcetera at an alarming rate. Well, there is one major downside to the projects. As it turns out, more than 90% of the thousands of new infrastructure projects across the country are slated to get funding from the Conservative government without being required to undergo a federal assessment of their environmental impact, according to Canwest News Service.
Although environmental assessments are generally required for projects that receive funding from the Government of Canada, exemptions were approved by the Right Honourable Stephen Harper's cabinet last spring to speed up the approval process on certain types of projects with "small" budgets.
So, what does that mean? Well, so far, more than 3,000 projects have been approved for funding under the Government of Canada's multi-billion-dollar Economic Action Plan. But out of those 3,000 projects, only 2% o the projects will go through a federal process to evaluate their environmental footprint, according to Chris Day, a spokesman for Honourable John Baird, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
But, despite that, a number of projects may still be subject to provincial studies.
It is important to note that the exemptions for federal assessments were not introduced though legislation in Parliament and have been challenged in court by two environmental organizations that have too much time on their hands: Ecojustice and the Sierra Club of Canada.
By now, you should know that the Government of Canada introduced its Economic Action Plan earlier this year. And of course, money is going out the window to municipalise and etcetera at an alarming rate. Well, there is one major downside to the projects. As it turns out, more than 90% of the thousands of new infrastructure projects across the country are slated to get funding from the Conservative government without being required to undergo a federal assessment of their environmental impact, according to Canwest News Service.
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