Environmental Review Sparks Debate

Critical debates have been sparked following the announcement by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver of an overhaul of environmental assessment rules. So far it appears that voters have accepted that some change to environmental assessment rules is worthwhile, but the public will be paying close attention to the motives behind any change. The stakes are high for both the Conservatives and the NDP.

The question of motive is a risk for the government as well as for the opposition. For the Tory government ministers who talk about the amount of potential interventions will be reinforcing the public confidence that they are exercising good governance. However, it has been suggested that spending millions to audit environmental NGOs may make voters wary that the motive of the Tory government is to smother legitimate debate, or that they are not confident that their ideas will hold up under scrutiny. For the NDP opposition, the risk is that criticizing proposals for change