The Canadian Environmental Network, a central body
that coordinates over 600 environmental groups, may not be around
much longer. Environment Minister Peter Kent recently announced that the Federal Government will no
longer be providing the funding that has always made up the bulk of
the CEN's budget.
One of the values of the CEN was its role in bringing together
environmental groups to discuss issues and participate in federal
consultations. By acting as a coordinating body, the CEN supported
smaller groups to ensure that both these regional groups and large
national NGOs were able to participate in policy development.
Non-governmental groups are often called upon to provide
sophisticated policy analyses in response to proposed changes to
environmental law and policy. Without the CEN, environmental
responses to public policy may well be slower, fewer, and less well
organized. That should reduce the environmental voice in
multi-stakeholder consultation across the
