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This story is brought to you in part by Dagua
Update 2017/2/22
Navigable Protection Act
MONEY TALKS LOUDER THAN NATURE; LOBBIES, PIPELINES AND TAR SANDS...TAR AND TAR AGAIN.
By Stéphanie L. Denis
We could name quite a few instances where Steven Harper's Conservatives pulled the rug underneath environmental betterment and protection for economic growth: carbon taxes, Kyoto engagement, the shutdown of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, phasing out the Office of the National Science Adviser, ?and restricting media protocols requiring scientists and government officials to obtain government permission before speaking to the media, just to name a few.
But today we are looking at how Mr. Harper's conservatives were able to prevent the protection of more than 2.5 million lakes, rivers and water surfaces from being evaluated by multiple ministries and agencies to prevent construction, modification and other potentially harmful human interactions, reducing it to just 159, which includes 3 oceans…The Navigation Protection Act torn to pieces by the Conservatives in 2013 was not just for boats. It protected all navigable waters, which includes, navigable by canoe or steamship from structure construction, be it a bridge, a simple dock or a pipeline to be constructed without multiple, overlapping provincial, national and environmental instances' approval. Now, all you need is the cabinet of Transport Minister's approval and follow some very loose guidelines.
How come this Act got to where it is now? Simple question, follow the money for the answer. In 2011, the Conservative government was putting together it's 2012 "Responsible Resource Development", that got the CEPA (Canadian Energy Pipeline Association) interested in moving in on the discussions.
Thru the "Freedom of information act" Greenpeace could get concise information about the CEPA objectives and subsequent demands that were granted. In October 27th 2011 the CEPA had a meeting with the Deputy Minister of International Trades and here are copies of the slides presented at that meeting sourced by Keith Stewart for Greenpeace Canada:
(https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_0MqnZ4wmcMRlZfWlFrWmM2Nnc/edit)
The objective was simple; facilitate and streamline the process to get approval to run pipelines over the bed of large and small water surfaces without the multiple time consuming and very restricting regulations of the then Navigable Waters Protection Act. Lets remember that at the time the Keystone Pipeline Project was all the rage, billions of dollars at stake, only one of the multiple projects found in the document. The Conservatives did not waste any time, as this joint letter from Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, Canadian Petroleum Products, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Canadian Gas Association was sent on December 12th 2011 to both Ministers of Environment Canada (Peter Kent) and Natural Resources Canada (Joe Oliver), states clearly and very simply what is being asked and eventually granted by the Harper government: (http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/Global/canada/pr/2013/01/ATIP_Industry_letter_on_enviro_regs_to_Oliver_and_Kent.pdf). The first budget omnibus bill in June 2012 contained a replacement for the Environmental Assessment Act and a provision to remove pipelines and power lines from provisions of the Navigable Waters Protection Act. Whoever said knowledge is power was not part of the conversation, as Energy and BIG money really seem to be Power in this case.
But then the government went even further in a second omnibus bill (C-45). The Navigable Waters Protection Act was changed to the Navigation Protection Act, streamlining with a steamroller over the 1882 act, which evolved over time into a key element of environmental legislations in Canada. Transport Minister at the time, Denis Lebel has argued in the media that: "The changes were in response to demands from municipalities, who found that the act was tying them up in red tape". How convenient for multimillion dollar Public Private Partnerships like the Jacques Cartier and Champlain bridges Inc. consortium currently building Montreal's new bridge to put pressure along the petroleum industry to cut corners and start building. The Government's department registry website currently lists them as a department of Canadian Government but the link to their page does not lead anywhere, how convenient that the only incorporated body of the list can't be reached thru the nation's public contact list.
After pressures from many native and environmental organizations, the Trudeau administration decided, without bells and whistles, to hold a public review from December 2016 to January 2017 on a dedicated page of the government's website. Every citizen and organization, were welcome to send their stories and concerns and that they would be added to the review.
We talked to Mr. Mark Mattson, lawyer, founder and president of Lake Ontario Water Keeper who had this to say: "The Harper government were very quick to establish the Major Project Management Office that had the mandate to change laws on 72 projects to promote economic growth in a time effective manner and was lobbied from day one by anyone and everyone from petroleum industry to cities that wanted to put projects forward and did not want navigation and environmental assessments that would alert the public and delay or bring attention to what they intended to do." Mr. Mattson had this to say about the recent public review: "We are concerned because public reviews are a slow process and the government did not go out of its way to promote it. We see a lot happening at the grassroots level as we recently saw with the Great Lakes and this is a good thing. The more the public is aware of the laws and their implications, standing opposition to these matters will rise and politicians will have no choice but listen to what the citizens have to say."
We spoke to Mr. Martin Chaumont, who is since 2013 National Director for the Navigation Protection Program at Transport Canada, and was Director of Strategic Planning at Transport Canada from 2006 to 2013, "THE" person that could give us more detailed precisions about the whole subject. When we left the message on his voice mail, this reporter gave all the required information about who and what we do, media information, questions and call back number. Mr. Chaumont did call this reporter back, but when asked about the public reviews he said:
"Well this is not under my assignment, I have no information as to where the review is at or when it is to give its conclusions. But who are you working for? I was not told that this was for a media, I'm sorry I will have to redirect you to media relations who will be able to answer your questions about the public reviews." Then we asked, since we had him on the phone to tell us more about how and why the act was changed exactly, and if pipeline, petroleum and municipalities had lobbied for the changes? The Director of the program seemed embarrassed then replied: "I really have to send you to the media department, I was here only 3 years and can't answer your questions, but If you Google Navigation Protection Act it will get you to the page where everything you need to know is displayed. I will have someone from media call you back very soon."
Less than 8 minutes later, Mr. Chaumont himself called back to give us the media department phone number for Transport Canada (That we already got by Google...) and said: "Did you send a media request thru the website?" We said yes and that we had already left a message at the number he just gave us 2 hours prior... He then concluded with a relieved tone: "I will send a memo for them to get back to you with some answers. But you have a really tight deadline... we will do our best." Thank you, Mr. Chaumont... Clearly the topic seems very, very sensitive and we are still waiting for the "Official answer" as Miss Marie-Annick Côté Director of Communications who got back to us by phone 4 minutes before deadline: "Let me get to the experts and have them answer your questions, I will personally get back to you with answers by the end of the week." More on this topic to come, keep posted.
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