In her first report as Canada's environment commissioner, Julie Gelfand finds a stark contradiction between the government's words and actions when it comes to Canada's plans for the Arctic.
Despite the Conservative government's much vaunted "Northern Strategy," Gelfand's report found problems with a lack of Arctic marine charts, navigation aids and ice-breaking services.
"Overall, we found that there is no long-term national vision or co-ordinated departmental strategy to support safe marine transportation in the Arctic," Gelfand wrote in her report.
Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand's report released Tuesday found 'no long-term national vision or co-ordinated departmental strategy to support safe marine transportation in the Arctic.' (Office of the Auditor General)
The chapter titled "Marine Navigation in the Canadian Arctic" was one of six in her fall report to Parliament.
It focused on Transport Canada, Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the department that oversees the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Hydrographic Service that makes marine charts.
The report found Arctic waters were inadequately surveyed and, on top of that, there isn't sufficient capacity to make charts.
It also took aim at the Canadian Coast Guard and its icebreaking services.
"The Canadian Coast Guard's icebreaking presence in the arctic is decreasing while vessel traffic is increasing," she wrote.
The report's five other chapters include:
- Implementation of the 2012 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
- The government's plan to reduce greenhouse gases.
- The joint Alberta-Canada Oil Sands Monitoring project.
- Progress implementing sustainable development strategies in certain departments.
- Environmental petitions from ordinary Canadians.
The chapter on CEAA 2012 found some serious issues with transparency. In particular, the commissioner didn't understand how the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency chose projects to assess.
"Overall, we found that the agency's rationale for identification of projects for environmental assessment is unclear," wrote Gelfand.
For instance, in the new regulations, diamond mines and railway yards are to be scrutinized, but wind turbines and in situ oilsands are not.
"Most of the agency's processes and the rationales on which recommendations are based are not made public. As the intent of the new legislation is to focus on projects that have the greatest potential for enviro effects, it is important for the agency to have a clear, transparent basis for identifying those projects," she said in her report.
Gelfand's audit of the government's 2020 greenhouse gas reduction plan added to a growing canon of criticism.
Gelfand looked into four areas that Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Transport Canada are working on to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets. They are:
- Measures to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Assessing success of measures.
- Working with provinces and territories.
- Developing plans to hit 2020 targets.
"Federal departments have made unsatisfactory progress in each of the four areas examined," was the finding.
She also drew attention to the fact the federal government does not know what Environment Canada's role will be in oilsands monitoring after March 2015.
Overall, Gelfand found the government rudderless in many areas of environmental concern.
"In many key areas that we looked at, it is not clear how the government intends to address the significant environmental challenges that future growth and development will likely bring about," she said.
The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development is part of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The commissioner's office generally releases two reports to Parliament a year.
Gelfand was appointed in March, replacing Scott Vaughan, who left the office in 2013.
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