Buget 2010: How does the environment fit in?

The Green Budget Coalition submits priority recommendations for each annual federal budget. The GBC’s full Recommendations for Budget 2010: Investing in a Prosperous Green Future document is available here.

The document has been sent to Ministers and Deputy Ministers and will be sent to all MPs and Senators. Key negative points are that the budget ended renewable power incentives, weakened environmental assessment regulations, provided no direction on transitioning to a green economy or supporting developing countries adaptation to climate change, no progress on pricing carbon emissions and includes $255 million to cover commercial losses by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. On the positive side funding for Sustainability Indicators continues, there is $331 million in funding for First Nations water infrastructure, as well as $80 million in funding for home energy efficiency retrofits.

Since the Environmental Assessment changes were embedded in the budget the changes were made with limited parliamentary debate or public input and included the threat of an election. This is very significant to folks who are concerned about the rapid expansion of oil sands and other energy projects, as authority has been delegated away from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Authority and to the National Energy Board. For more detail on this see page 6 of the attached document.

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