The Canadian Government Response to Environmental Concern
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207302800107 |
| Date | 01 March 1973 |
| Published date | 01 March 1973 |
| Author | O. P. Dwivedi |
| Subject Matter | Article |
0.
P.
DWIVEDI
The
Canadian
government
response
to
environmental
concern
It
was
not
until
the
mid-196os
that
questions
pertaining
to
environ-
mental quality
attracted national
attention
in
Canada
and
became
a
major
topic for
discussion
at
all
levels
of
society.
The
growing
public
concern
about
environmental
problems
impelled
the
federal
government
to
respond
by
undertaking
certain
legislative, ad-
ministrative, and
international
actions.
I
LEGISLATIVE
RESPONSE
The
changing
attitudes
in the
196os
are reflected
in
the universal
public
demand
for
government
action
to
control environmental
pollution.
The
problem
of
pollution
also
commanded
national
attention
during
the
1968
federal
election.
When
the
28th
Parlia-
ment
was
convened,
the
Liberal government
indicated
that
it
would
be
bringing
forward legislation
to
deal
with
environmental
ques-
tions.
As
the
Speech
from
the
Throne
stated:
'Of
broader impor-
tance
is
the
problem
of
pollution,
which
must
receive
increased
attention
from
federal,
provincial
and
municipal
governments.
My
Ministers
are
actively engaged
in preparing
proposals on
these
subjects
and,
in due
course, these
will
be
brought
before
you
for
your
examination."
Several
months
passed,
however,
and
the
gov-
ernment
appeared in
no
hurry
to
introduce
such
legislation. En-
vironmental
concerns
became
an
attractive
means
for
opposition
parties
to
attack
the government
in
the
House
of
Commons.
Partly
to
satisfy
its critics
and
partly
to
control
the deteriorating
state
of
water
in
certain
parts
of
the
country,
the
government
introduced,
Associate
Professor,
Department
of
Political
Studies,
University
of
Guelph.
i
Canada,
House
of
Commons,
Debates,
12
September
1968,
p
8.
CANADIAN
GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE
135
on
5
November
1969,
bill
c-144,
the Canada
Water
Bill,
'to
provide
for the
management
of
the
water
resources
of
Canada
including
re-
search
and
the
planning
and
implementation
of
programs
relating
to
the
conservation, development
and
utilization
of
water
re-
sources.'
But
the
legislation appeared
to
many
to
be
anticlimactic,
because
it
merely
emphasized
water
resources
development
and
pollution
control
rather
than
providing
a
comprehensive
means
to
handle
all
the
environmental
problems
facing
the country.
The
legislation
also
avoided
committing
the
federal
government
to
establish
a
national
agency
which
could
consolidate
the
increasing
array
of
mechanisms
for
environmental management. Mr
Harding,
a
New
Democrat,
criticized
the
Liberal
government for
its lack of
central
direction
and
having
no
real
plan
to
solve
Canada's
pollu-
tion problems.
2
Opposition
members
were
also
quick
to
point
out
that
the
legislation
did
little
to
bring order
to
the
chaotic
situation
which
surrounded
existing
approaches
to
pollution
problems.
They
charged
that
the
legislation
only
added
to
the
already
clumsy
juris-
dictional
division
of
responsibility
among
various
federal govern-
ment
departments,
such
as
Fisheries
and
Forestry, Energy,
Mines
and
Resources,
National Health and
Welfare,
Transport,
and
In-
dian
Affairs
and
Northern
Development
-
each
of
which
dealt
with
some
aspect
of
water
resource
management.
The
federal
government,
however,
must
be
credited
for
bring-
ing
in
legislation
which
provided,
for
the
first
time,
a
framework
for
a
co-operative
approach
between
the
two
senior
levels
of
govern-
ment
in
attacking the
problem
of
water-quality
management.
The
act
enables
the
federal
and
provincial governments
to
tackle
the
problem
of
water
pollution
wherever any
body
of
water
has
drastic-
ally
deteriorated,
or where
the
preservation
of
a
high
level
of
quality
is
by
far the largest
problem
in
a
basin.
There
is
provision
for
a
joint
water
quality
mangement
agency
to
design
and
operate
sewage
treatment
plants
and
to
police
effluent
standards
for
waste.
There
is
also
provision
for
unilateral
action
by
the federal
government
on
boundary
and
interprovincial
waters,
if
the
quality
of those
waters
is
of
national
concern.
2
Ibid,
20
November
1969,
p
1o67.
To continue reading
Request your trial