(Chapter 11-Insurance for Nuclear Operators)
(Chapter 12-Listing of Species at Risk)
(Chapter 13-Military Dumpsites)
(Chapter 14-Genetically Engineered Fish)
Ottawa, 6 March 2008-Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada made unsatisfactory progress on issues raised in previous audits of responses to environmental petitions, says the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Ron Thompson, in his Status Report tabled today in the House of Commons. The Report notes that progress by National Defence and Natural Resources Canada was satisfactory.
"This is our second look at the government's responses to these four environmental petitions," said Mr. Thompson. "Progress on the issues raised in our previous audits is satisfactory in two of the four cases we looked at."
The Report says that Environment Canada has not yet finalized its guidelines for dealing with cases in which the Minister does not follow a scientific committee's advice to add species to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. In the meantime, 20 species assessed as "at risk" have not been listed for federal protection.
Similarly, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has not made satisfactory progress in developing regulations on genetically engineered fish, a commitment the Department made to a Canadian petitioner in 2001 and repeated in 2004.
National Defence, however, has made satisfactory progress in carrying out its commitments to identify and assess the risks of unexploded ordnance and chemical and biological warfare agents in ocean dumpsites.
Natural Resources Canada made satisfactory progress on a commitment to propose revisions to the legislation governing nuclear liability insurance. Currently, there is legislation before Parliament that would revise the required insurance from $75 million to $650 million.
The Status Report follows up on the government's progress in addressing issues identified in previous reports. In most cases, the government agreed with the recommendations in the original audit and made a commitment to take action on them. In each chapter of this report, the government's progress is deemed either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, taking into account the complexity of the issue and the amount of time that has passed since the original audit.
- 30 -
The 2008 Status Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.
For more information, please click here.
