(The Commissioner's Perspective - March 2008 Status Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)
Ottawa, 6 March 2008-The federal government has made unsatisfactory progress on previously reported issues or recommendations in nine of fourteen areas audited, says the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Ron Thompson, in his Status Report tabled today in the House of Commons.
"Progress in nine areas is unsatisfactory largely because the government did not follow through on its own commitments to strengthen protection of the environment," said Mr. Thompson.
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.
The Status Report notes that the government has made satisfactory progress in five areas: assessing priority chemicals, managing pesticide safety and accessibility, assessing and cleaning up federal contaminated sites, identifying and assessing the risks of military dumpsites and proposing changes to legislation regarding nuclear operators' liability insurance.
However, progress is unsatisfactory in nine areas: managing federal protected areas for wildlife, protecting species at risk, controlling invasive aquatic species, improving areas of concern in the Great Lakes Basin, conducting strategic environmental assessments, reporting on international environmental agreements, greening of government operations, developing guidelines for listing species at risk and regulating genetically engineered fish.
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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.
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