Green the Budget - December 7, 2001

Paul Martin will deliver the federal budget next Monday, and rumor has it that the budget will include billions of dollars for national security.

Let’s put this in perspective. These announcements come at a time when we have not had a single act of terrorism or a single reported case of Anthrax in this country.

A more real threat to Canadians is the air that we breathe and the water that we drink. Air pollution kills 16,000 Canadians prematurely each year. Exposure to toxic substances is estimated to have caused a 25% increase in childhood cancer over the past 25 years, according to the Canadian Institute of Child Health.

The American Society of Microbiologists estimates that the USA has 900,000 cases of illness and 900 deaths caused by waterborne disease each year. Assuming that our water protection is about equal to the Americans’ and that our population is a tenth as large, Canada probably has about 90,000 cases of illness and 90 deaths a year from waterborne disease.

In the 9 months following the 7 deaths at Walkerton, Ontario issued 246 boil water orders. In May, 2001, boil water advisories were issued in 250 Newfoundland communities, and 220 in British Columbia.

While we should certainly be concerned about terrorism, air and water pollution are more immediate threats to Canadians. Our government’s budget should reflect this simple fact.

Paul Martin would be well advised to look at some of the reasonable proposals that are being bt forward by researchers and public interest groups like the Green Budget Coalition.

The Green Budget package includes proposals to reduce pollution of our air and water with toxic substances and greenhouse gases. A national program to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings, and a tax incentive to increase the use of renewable energy are also proposed. Other suggested measures include a “Clean Canada Fund” to identify, rehabilitate and relocate communities affected by the more than 10,000 toxic sites across Canada, half of which are on federal lands.

The package also proposes that the federal government increase investment in our national parks, to maintain the health and integrity of our current parks, and to fulfill the government’s promise to create new ones. This would help to protect rare and unique ecosystems and species at risk. These parks also contribute significantly to the Canadian economy by attracting tourists.

It’s proposals like these that will ensure a safe and secure future for Canadians. As Prime Minister Chretien recently said himself, “…the security of our country is dependent not only on the protection of our border and our airports, not only on the power that we give to law enforcement agencies. It is also dependent on the prosperity of our economy, the health of our environment, the inclusiveness of our society, and the strength of our voice in the world.”

Dr. David Schindler is a pioneering freshwater ecologist and the 2001 winner of the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, considered the highest honour for Canadian researchers. He currently holds the Killam Memorial Chair in Ecology at the University of Alberta.