In our community:

Preserving the Ottawa River:

• As a follow up to his parliamentary motion calling on the government to protect and preserve the Ottawa River, Paul released a comprehensive Action Plan for federal action;
• Worked with the NCC to preserve the meadow habitat on the shores of Ottawa River;
• Successfully pressured the Minister of Environment to support the designation of the Ottawa River as a national heritage river – first step in gaining federal attention for our source of drinking water;
• Continued the pressure on the government for strong environmental regulations, consistent enforcement of those regulations and investment in our city infrastructure in light of the incident at the Petrie Island Beach.

Protecting the Gatineau Park:

• Paul reintroduced his private member’s bill C-311 and launched a community campaign to give the park the same protections as a national park.
• Government adopted certain aspects of Paul's bill. For the first time the park's boundaries will be in legislation, its ecological integrity will be protected and parliament will have oversight on any change to the park.

• C-497 to ban use of bisphenol A: Adopted by government.
• C-510 to improve food labeling practices
• C-514 to regulate the bottled water industry
• C-570 to improving labeling practices with regards to the amount of salt in processed food

Building a Clean and Sustainable Canada 

A living biosphere and a sustainable environment for future generations are public necessities that require collective action.

Tackling climate change requires incentives for individuals, tough benchmarks for industry and leadership from the federal government.

Future generations are counting on action today. Canadians cannot afford to let economic and financial crises become reasons for inaction on global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental imperatives.

New Democrats reject the claim of a fundamental contradiction between environmental health and economic growth. Developing green energy industries is an opportunity for a dynamic new era of job creation, building a competitive advantage for Canada in environmental technologies and practices, which in turn help foster innovations in manufacturing.

Reshaping energy policy for the 21st century means moving away from fossil-fuel dependence toward a green energy future by investing in solar, wind, wave, and geothermal sources, working with provinces and territories to share clean energy; and ensuring energy conservation in transportation and building methods.

A New Democrat government will make Canada an environmental leader on the world stage by honouring treaty obligations, incorporating strong environmental standards in trade agreements and ensuring Canadian companies operating abroad will be held to standards and practices that reduce their footprint and leave local ecosystems in good health.

Protecting Nature and Our Ecosystems

• Protecting the environment as a common good by creating a legal framework to ensure that people have the right to live in a healthy environment with access to natural spaces
• Protecting and restoring ecosystems as central to all social and economic planning
• Reducing and eliminating highly toxic substances, especially those threatening life and habitat
• Protecting our supplies of fresh water by excluding it from all international trade agreements, privatization and deregulation
• Strengthening laws to protect biodiversity and threatened species; and
• Protecting and developing our national parks and designating new parks.

Climate Change

• Establishing binding targets and clear standards to cut greenhouse gas emissions
• Creating a revenue-generating carbon market to ensure industry reduces greenhouse gas emissions to targets set by government; and
• Imposing strict energy efficiency and emissions standards for motor vehicles, appliances, and buildings.

Energy

• Promoting clean, renewable energy to mitigate the negative effect of non-renewable energy such as fossil fuels
• Investing in research and development to create new sources of alternative energy and develop incentives to encourage their use
• Promoting coordination between provinces and territories to share clean energy sources and ensure better energy security, including, where appropriate, an east-west energy grid
• Rescinding tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel industries, while protecting workers, communities, and the surrounding environment
• Halting nuclear expansion and upgrading the safety and security of current nuclear energy and waste management facilities
• Developing strong standards and incentives for energy conservation and creating public awareness about its importance; and
• Working with all levels of government to achieve large-scale energy efficiency, especially through major retrofit programs.

Towards a Green and Sustainable Economy

• Reviewing all economic decisions to assess their environmental impact
• Establishing a major research and development fund for green technologies
• Including environment sustainability in corporate social responsibility codes
• Consulting with communities on the development of local sustainability initiatives; and
• Investing in the development of “green cars”.
• Directing infrastructure stimulus spending in a strategic way that focuses on public transit, retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency and following urban design models to make our communities more energy efficient.

Showing Green Leadership to the World

• Taking leadership internationally to prevent environmental damage to the planet and implement environmentally sustainable practices worldwide
• Adhering to international agreements to reverse climate change, including those with binding regulations; and
• Demanding environmental standards in all trade agreements to which Canada is a signatory.