Invoking Ecological Wisdom

Hundreds of thousands of chemicals are in commercial use. Only a handful have undergone independent scrutiny of their toxic effects on humans and ecosystems. Tragically, we only discover after long exposure that some are unsafe and by then the damage has been done. The regulatory system is always playing catch-up. Pollution and toxic chemicals pose serious health threats such as cancer, asthma, learning disabilities and other chronic diseases, with marginalized populations often at greatest risk. The health impacts of exposure to toxic substances are estimated to cost our health-care system tens of billions of dollars annually.^[23]

A Green government will:

• Pass legislation to give Canadians the right to a healthy environment, promoting greater transparency in decision-making, public participation rights and access to judicial review mechanisms.
• Set targets for reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture through programs to assist farmers in moving to organic and regenerative farming.
• Strengthen the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) to limit the approval and use of toxic chemicals that affect our health and environment.
• Regulate microfibres as a toxic substance under CEPA.
• Invoke the precautionary principle in making decisions about approvals of products, substances, projects and processes where there is the potential for irreversible harm. If there is no scientific proof of safety, then approval will be withheld.
• Revive and expand the National Pesticides Monitoring and Surveillance Network.
• Create an adverse effects reporting database for doctors and emergency rooms to keep track of health impacts of pesticides and other chemicals.
• Ban neonicotinoid pesticides, which kill bees and other pollinators, and support farmers in shifting to alternatives.
• Ban all forestry and cosmetic uses of glyphosate-based herbicides as well as their use as a pre-harvest desiccant.
• Ban all toxic ingredients in personal care products.
• In collaboration with provinces, territories, municipal/local governments and Indigenous Peoples, develop a national water strategy to ensure safe drinking water for all in Canada.

The world’s oceans are in trouble. Besides overfishing (see Food from the Sea), pollution, acidification, climate change, habitat damage and fishing gear are taking a terrible toll on marine life and ecosystems. Eight to nine million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year, the equivalent of one large garbage truck full of plastic every minute. This plastic ends up floating, submerged, or sinking to the ocean floor, often leaching and absorbing toxic chemicals, and harming and killing marine life through either entanglement or ingestion. ^[25] In short, we have to clean up and back off and give marine ecosystems a chance to heal themselves.

• Turn off the pollution taps flowing into coastal waters including municipal sewage and industrial effluents. Climate protection policies to prohibit new offshore oil and gas development and phase out existing operations will reduce the threat of marine oil spills.
• Slash fossil fuel use (Mission: Possible) to protect the oceans from acidification.
• Expand marine protected areas from 10 to 30 per cent of Canada’s territorial waters by 2030.
• Legislate cruise ship waste discharge standards that meet or exceed those of our coastal neighbours.
• To reduce and mitigate plastic waste from fishing gear that entangles and kills marine animals, by January 2021 implement an Extended Producer Responsibility program for all companies making or selling synthetic fishing gear which would fund the retrieval of lost or abandoned fishing gear, commonly known as ghost nets, and the collection and recycling of old, damaged, and recovered fishing gear.

Several hundred animal and plant species are currently on federal and provincial lists of species at risk of extinction with more added every year. The most common cause of their decline is destruction of habitat due to economic activity and urbanization. Rarely are species removed from the list. Often their status continues to decline, despite their protected status.

• Increase funding to federal departments to dramatically ramp up the development and implementation of endangered species recovery plans required by legislation, placing tight deadlines on completion and invoking emergency powers of the federal government to protect species when provincial governments fail to do so.
• Protect a minimum of 30 per cent of freshwaters, oceans and land by 2030.
• Commit $100 million annually over the next four years to create Indigenous-led protected and conserved areas and fund stewardship of these lands and waters by Indigenous guardians.
• Fully restore the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which was gutted by the Harper government in 2012, and adopt the recommendations of the independent Expert Panel on Environmental Assessment, commissioned by the Liberals and then ignored.
• Increase funding to Parks Canada to ensure that the ecological integrity of our national parks is maintained, and where necessary restored, and that heritage sites are fully protected and maintained.