maybe edmonton

The budget bill currently before the Canadian Parliament (Bill C-38) does a bunch of things that don’t seem to have much to do with the budget—including completely gutting Canada’s federal environmental laws.

The Environmental Assessment Act is being completely repealed and replaced with a regime that gives the government the power to basically approve any project they want without any environmental review—including mining projects in Alberta’s Athabasca Tar Sands and the Canadian portion of the Keystone XL pipeline.

And while environmental protections are being slashed, $8 million is going to the Canada Revenue Agency to audit charities (with the understanding that the main targets will be environmental charities—which the government has labelled as money launderers working for foreign interests). By putting this in a budget bill, the Conservative government has ensured that there will be minimal debate on these changes, and they will almost certainly be passed by the majority-Conservative parliament. Canada’s largest environmental groups have organized a website blackout on June 4 to protest and raise awareness of these changes.”