Dion and the Environment
I'm glad Dion won the Liberal Leadership Convention. He is the first liberal candiate to include environmetalism in his list of main campaign objectives. This is an interesting change since many people view the Green Party as not a viable option. With Dion as the Liberal candidate, and hopefully people getting annoyed of Harper's lack of human conscience, perhaps we can actually commit to the Kyoto objectives which we have many absolutely ZERO effort towards meeting. Other countries in Europe meet and EXCEED their emission standards while we do nothing.
I thought the following article from Stephane Dion's website concerning his environmental concerns:
WINNIPEG (November 15, 2006) – Liberal Leadership candidate Stéphane Dion today unveiled his plan for protecting Canada’s natural environment, building on the successes of previous Liberal governments and initiating a comprehensive four-point plan of action.
“Close to half of Canada’s 440 bird species are in long-term chronic population decline. Species-at-risk lists continue to grow longer. The nation’s wetland base diminishes every year. Commercial fisheries are closed or in decline for many species. Intact old growth forest is increasingly rare,” said Dion. “Previous Liberal governments have introduced the necessary legislative and policy tools we need to confront these alarming realities. The time is now to use them and take immediate action to protect our natural environment.”
The plan released today outlines four concrete measures to safeguard Canada’s precious natural environment, including:
1. Implementing federal legislation and enforcing existing regulations;2. Strengthening our science to better understand what is happening and how we can benefit more from our natural advantages;3. Expanding further our system of National Wildlife Areas and marine protected areas, completing the National Parks system and supporting private land conservancy; and,4. Working in partnership at home and abroad to achieve meaningful global nature conservancy goals.
Among the many new initiatives outlined in today’s comprehensive plan, Dion is proposing to create a Watershed Conservation Fund under the Canada Water Act, targeting watersheds that have traditionally received relatively limited federal government attention – such as the upper Fraser, the Saskatchewan system, the rivers of northern Ontario and the St. John. He is also proposing aggressive additional support for science, creating a Canadian Nature Monitoring Network, a Canadian Nature Research Foundation, and a National Wildlife Disease Centre of Excellence to respond to the public health and security threats posed by wildlife-borne diseases such as Avian Flu, West Nile Virus and Chronic Wasting Disease.
Dion will also establish and endow the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Nature Conservation Foundation to support private land conservation organizations on a matching basis to assist their efforts to acquire and protect lands of high conservation value. And, recognising that nature conservancy is a global challenge, as Prime Minister, he would create meaningful and effective partnerships with community groups, provinces and territories, and other national governments in the Americas to achieve lasting protection of our natural world.
“Canada must be a world leader in weaving together economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability. These three pillars are the foundation of Canada’s future, a foundation that must not only preserve, but also improve our quality of life. And, nowhere is the three-pillar approach better exemplified than in how we approach our natural environment,” said Dion. “Our natural world underpins our economy, is integral to our social fabric and social history and lies at the core of environmental sustainability. As Prime Minister, I will bring Canadians together to ensure that Canada’s natural environment is conserved and protected from sea to sea to sea – for ourselves, for our children, for our future, for Canada, and for our responsibility to the planet.”
I thought the following article from Stephane Dion's website concerning his environmental concerns:
WINNIPEG (November 15, 2006) – Liberal Leadership candidate Stéphane Dion today unveiled his plan for protecting Canada’s natural environment, building on the successes of previous Liberal governments and initiating a comprehensive four-point plan of action.
“Close to half of Canada’s 440 bird species are in long-term chronic population decline. Species-at-risk lists continue to grow longer. The nation’s wetland base diminishes every year. Commercial fisheries are closed or in decline for many species. Intact old growth forest is increasingly rare,” said Dion. “Previous Liberal governments have introduced the necessary legislative and policy tools we need to confront these alarming realities. The time is now to use them and take immediate action to protect our natural environment.”
The plan released today outlines four concrete measures to safeguard Canada’s precious natural environment, including:
1. Implementing federal legislation and enforcing existing regulations;2. Strengthening our science to better understand what is happening and how we can benefit more from our natural advantages;3. Expanding further our system of National Wildlife Areas and marine protected areas, completing the National Parks system and supporting private land conservancy; and,4. Working in partnership at home and abroad to achieve meaningful global nature conservancy goals.
Among the many new initiatives outlined in today’s comprehensive plan, Dion is proposing to create a Watershed Conservation Fund under the Canada Water Act, targeting watersheds that have traditionally received relatively limited federal government attention – such as the upper Fraser, the Saskatchewan system, the rivers of northern Ontario and the St. John. He is also proposing aggressive additional support for science, creating a Canadian Nature Monitoring Network, a Canadian Nature Research Foundation, and a National Wildlife Disease Centre of Excellence to respond to the public health and security threats posed by wildlife-borne diseases such as Avian Flu, West Nile Virus and Chronic Wasting Disease.
Dion will also establish and endow the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Nature Conservation Foundation to support private land conservation organizations on a matching basis to assist their efforts to acquire and protect lands of high conservation value. And, recognising that nature conservancy is a global challenge, as Prime Minister, he would create meaningful and effective partnerships with community groups, provinces and territories, and other national governments in the Americas to achieve lasting protection of our natural world.
“Canada must be a world leader in weaving together economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability. These three pillars are the foundation of Canada’s future, a foundation that must not only preserve, but also improve our quality of life. And, nowhere is the three-pillar approach better exemplified than in how we approach our natural environment,” said Dion. “Our natural world underpins our economy, is integral to our social fabric and social history and lies at the core of environmental sustainability. As Prime Minister, I will bring Canadians together to ensure that Canada’s natural environment is conserved and protected from sea to sea to sea – for ourselves, for our children, for our future, for Canada, and for our responsibility to the planet.”
posted by Superman at 12:31 PM
1 Comments:
I enjoyed that article you came across. If Liberals win an upcoming election, I really hope that Dion keeps his word and does a lot for Mother Nature. All those strategies seem like a good stance on where we should be heading with regards to our environment. I just hope he sticks by his words. I am very big on the environment and hope to do volunteer work and eventually work in the environmental sector of the government. We need to not just focus on business policies or our economy and focus to another topic beginning with alpha E...our ENVIRONMENT. People don't take this as serious because they're like oh well its not going to directly impact us as much but this is a common misconception. Like Dion said, a lot of our bird species are on the decline as well as other animals constantly being added to our endangered list or just on the overall decline. I am quite the animal lover, and I believe that we must do something to secure and increase animal populations. We live in a inter-webbed system where we all depend on each other in the natural food chain. So if we can get a leader in power that gives a damn about our environment and would like to help Mother Nature our on tackling real issues such as global warming, lowering emissions, increasing animal populations to a steady/non-threatening increment, then I would love to see Liberals take power once again! We need more leaders out there to take on a pro-active approach when it comes to our environment because the animals can't say anything or our environments so its our responsibility as responsible individuals to take on this on-going environmental problem and address it head-on.
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