Online Discussion 1: Environmental Policy under a Parliamentary System
As we learned in last week’s lesson, the Canadian system of government can pose challenges to the setting of environmental policy. Let’s explore this issue in our discussion this week by considering the following questions as well as any ideas relevant to this issue that you think of as the discussion progresses. You do not need to address all of these questions in a single post - in fact, it is probably better to limit each post to one or two well argued points.
Do you think our federal-provincial system of government makes it impossible to pass effective environmental legislation?
Would you change anything about the division of powers between the federal and provincial/territorial governments in order to improve the design and implementation of environmental policy in Canada?
Is environmental policy superior in the United States (can we learn any lessons from their approach including things to avoid)?
Can you find any examples of successful provincial/federal cooperation on environmental policy implementation in Canada?
Finally, do you think that we are in for a new era of environmental policy cooperation with the election of a new government this fall?
Post 1:
Hi Kristen,
In addition to your extensive research on the comparison of both the US and Canada’s differences in environmental policy, I have done some research myself and have read an interesting article that discusses lessons from America for environmental law enforcement in Canada.
The textbook has done a great job synthesizing information and giving an overview of environmental policies in both countries, but the journal critically assesses government efforts and outlines key policy differences. This journal first discusses jurisdictional differences in regards to environmental law in the US and Canada stemming from their