Conservative Environment Policy

The Liberals believe there is political advantage to repeat the lie that the Conservatives have no Environmental Policy.  They become emotional with invective about so called “climate-change deniers”.  Moreover, in policy portfolios, the Liberals have been exposed as “talk over substance”.  Notice how they have been “road testing” political smears for the next election, using terms like "racist" ad "alt-right".  Liberal rhetoric on the “Environment” is likely to be central to their campaign attacks.  Nevertheless, the Conservative Party has had the following published policy for years; it is credible.  Conservatives will soon release more policy on the Environment, but below is their great base upon which to build.

ENVIRONMENT 

The Conservative Party believes there must be a balance between fiscal accountability, progressive social policy, and individual rights and responsibilities;

The Conservative Party believes that the quality of the environment is a vital part of our heritage, to be protected by each generation for the next.

Environmental Principles

In order to have a strong economy and maintain good health, Canada must have strong, coordinated and achievable environmental policies.   

The Conservative Party believes that responsible exploration, development, conservation and renewal of our environment are vital to our continued well-being as a nation and as individuals. 

We believe that it is the responsibility of government to ensure that the sometimes-competing values of preserving the environment and creating jobs are maintained in proper balance.   

We believe that all environment and energy initiatives should be reviewed.  

We believe that an effective international emissions reduction regime on climate change must be truly global and must include binding targets for all the world’s major emitters, including China and the United States.

We believe that Canada should create a program to heighten public awareness to the economic benefits of environmental solutions which minimize the waste of resources.   

We believe that Canada should establish a program of tax credits to promote environmental solutions in the areas of transportation and entrepreneurial innovation, among others.   

We believe that the federal and territorial governments should make joint investments to study and address climate change adaptation in the North.

Clean Air and Smog Reductions

The Conservative Party supports the legislated emissions caps to reduce smog-causing pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, ground level ozone and particulate matter.  We support stringent vehicle fuel efficiency and exhaust emission standards.

Alternative Energy and Transitional Fuels

The Conservative Party believes the government should promote alternative energy (such as wind, solar, geothermal), transitional fuels (such as biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas), and the development of hydrogen as a fuel.  The expense of assuring the security of traditional fuel sources and concerns over pollution makes the use of these energy sources necessary.  We believe the government should enhance tax incentives for energy efficient measures which lead to a cleaner environment.

We believe the government should work with the provinces and territories to promote the development of ecological recycling plants, using incinerators that capture waste gas and transform it into energy.

Contaminated Sites

The Conservative Party supports initiatives to provide stable long-term funding for the cleanup of contaminated sites in cooperation with the provinces, territories and municipalities.  We believe the government should continue to remove roadblocks that discourage the private sector from cleaning and developing contaminated land:

i.             amend the Income Tax Act to allow remediation expenses to be treated as a deductible expense;

ii.            ii. introduce legislation to terminate regulatory liability upon issuance of regulatory approval of remediation to encourage development of brownfields, reversible only in emergency and in cases of fraud;

iii.          iii. create an insurance fund for post liability insurance claims. This will permit the quantification and spreading of development risk through insurance, reinsurance and diversification of ownership; and

iv.          iv. provide economic incentives to the private sector to clean up contaminated lands.

Offshore Resource Development

To capture economic, social and net environmental benefits, the Conservative Party believes the government should promote exploration and development of offshore resources along all our coastal waters.  This should be carried out in cooperation with the provinces and territories, affected First Nations, private industry and other relevant business, scientific and environmental groups.  We believe that companies should follow best practices and the precautionary principle to mitigate environmental risk.  

We believe government should allow for arms-length regulatory processes to ensure safe and environmentally responsible practices in the exploration for and development of these natural resources.  

We believe government should consider the potential of these natural resources before designating new Marine Protected Areas.  We support ensuring that accurate and complete information on the risks and benefits of such developments is made available to the public.

Water - Great Lakes

The Conservative Party believes the government should:

i.             continue working with the United States and the provinces to address critical threats to the sustainability of our shared resource, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin;

ii.            ii. address the threats to our shared resource, including water levels, invasive species, pollution and other threats to the tourism industry and the living conditions and economic well-being of area residents;

iii.          iii. provide adequate funding to fulfill its commitment to this region, which is home to 16 million Canadians and is a crucial source of clean air, drinking water, food, shelter, health, employment and recreation, as well as Canada’s highest concentration of industry;

iv.          iv. establish long-term outcomes; translate them into real plans for the basin; apply a consistent basin-wide approach for issues that span the entire basin; clarify responsibilities of federal and provincial governments; and recognize constitutional authority of the provinces.

Illegal Oil Dumping

The Conservative Party believes in the following initiatives:

i.             expanded oil-dumping detection;

ii.            ii. prohibitions to prevent ships from entering sensitive sea areas;

iii.          iii. legislation requiring ship operators to account for their ships’ waste; and iv. incentives to dump waste at our port facilities, not in our waters. We support increased fines for illegal oil dumping, a practice that kills hundreds of thousands of sea birds every year along Canada’s coastlines.  Ship operators caught illegally dumping oil should face criminal charges and be prevented from plying Canadian waters.

Aquifer Mapping

The Conservative Party supports the development of a long-term plan in cooperation with the provinces and territories to create an inventory that could define significant and key aquifers and establish policy to protect the quality and sustainability of Canada’s major aquifers.  With the threat of groundwater resources becoming depleted in Canada we will face increasing need to understand the extent and replenishment of aquifers.

Aquatic Invasive Species

The Conservative Party believes the government should in cooperation with local, provincial and international governments make mandatory the existing voluntary guidelines for ballast water management practices and enforce compliance for all ships carrying ballast water.  We believe the government should ensure all ships plying Canadian waters built after a set date have proper ballast water treatment technology and implement economic incentives.  This will see ship owners and operators rewarded for improved ballast water treatment practices.  Such measures will address the introduction and spread of aquatic alien invasive species that severely impair biological integrity and threaten the economies of water-dependent communities in Canada. They will also alleviate the costs for treatment, containment and control of these invasive species, which are massive and generally borne by local communities, rather than the industries that contribute to the problem.

Oceans and Coastlines

The Conservative Party believes that the oceans surrounding Canada on three sides are internationally recognized, Federal jurisdictions with rights and responsibilities in accordance with international treaties and laws. We support:

i.             the Canadian government claim to sovereign rights: in the Internal Waters, in the Territorial Sea, in the Contiguous Zone, in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and in, on, or above the Continental Shelf of Canada;

ii.            ii. the sovereign right to: a) control the Northwest Passage and the Canadian Inside Passages off the BC coast as internal waters of Canada; b) explore, exploit, conserve, and manage living and nonliving resources of water column in the EEZ; c) explore, exploit, conserve, and manage non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf, (E.g. minerals such as ferromanganese crusts, ferromanganese nodules, gas hydrate deposits, and petroleum); and economic activities, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; to construct and establish artificial islands and installations;

iii.          iii. the rights and responsibility to: a) conduct marine research as well as the right to suspend or cessation of marine scientific research activities within its jurisdiction; and b) regulate marine traffic, enforce safety standards, minimize environmental impact and ensure that foreign vessel traffic is for legal and peaceful purposes only.

Marine Transportation

The Conservative Party supports the retention of lightstations, their personnel, and their aids to navigation.  Lightstations are an important contribution to Canadian sovereignty, provide for public safety especially for recreational boaters and kayakers, are an essential presence to monitoring sea- planes and marine traffic, and assist in the interdiction of smuggling.  We also recognize the historical value of the lightstations and promote the concept that they are well situated infrastructure and personnel which can be utilized for scientific data collection and for other uses.  We support a strategic plan to address proper docking facilities for all coastal communities across the Far North.  We believe the government has an obligation to:

i.             enforce the relevant laws and regulations with respect to pollution by dumping;

ii.            ii. adopt special discharge and navigational requirements for designated areas and to prosecute foreign vessels where an actual pollution discharge has occurred;

iii.          iii. provide vessels passing through its EEZ with adequate charting and maritime safety information;

iv.          iv. provide Search and Rescue capabilities which are comparable to international standards of other developed countries; and v. establish and enforce safety standards for local and foreign vessels which operate in Canadian Waters for the well-being of workers as well as the environment.

Marine Scientific Research

We believe the government has an obligation to:

i.             promote international cooperation in marine scientific research for peaceful purposes; and

ii.            ii. create favourable conditions to study the processes occurring in the marine environment through bilateral and multilateral agreements.

We believe that government should promote opportunities in Ocean Technologies (or Blue Technologies) by identifying and reducing barriers to ocean technologies development, and by encouraging collaboration between industry and educational institutions for innovation.

We believe that government is responsible to regulate activities on the ocean to minimize environmental impact on the marine environment.

Coast Guard, Marine Safety and Abandoned Vessels

The Party emphasizes our commitment to Maritime Safety by implementing an institutional change, to transfer the Coast Guard back to the Minister of Transport; and that Coast Guard bases are operated using a cost-effective plan, via the creation or upgrading of facilities that can effectively and efficiently respond to marine safety matters.

The Conservative Party stand by its commitment to facilitate rehabilitation or demolition of abandoned and derelict vessels.

The Conservative Party supports Government Legislators in Pacific and Maritime ridings to consult with scientific and technical experts and implement decisions based on independent scientific data.

Carbon Tax

We believe that there should be no federally imposed carbon taxes or cap and trade systems on either the provinces or on the citizens of Canada.  The provinces and territories should be free to develop their own climate change policies, without federal interference or federal penalties or incentives.