A Little Less Canada in 2018?
Stephen Hazell
Director of Conservation
and General Counsel
Nature Canada’s Stephen Hazell asks whether the world actually needs a little less Canada in an op-ed published in Ottawa’s The Hill Times on January 17.
Considering the harm to nature that Canadians cause, Hazell argues that if the world’s other species could vote on which humans should be voted off Turtle Island, “Canadians would be near the top of their list.” By way of examples, he observes that Canada protects less of its land and ocean than any other developed country. Canada produces more GHGs per capita than other OECD countries aside from the U.S. and Australia, and more garbage per capita than any other country.
Quick starts for the federal government to shift Canada to a more sustainable course in our 151st year? Hazell argues that a federal investment in protecting land and ocean for nature in Budget 2018 as proposed by the Green Budget Coalition is important. As well, enacting strong, innovative environmental laws this session would move Canada towards environmental, economic and social sustainability.
Hazell’s hope for 2018? Less destruction of Canadian nature, fewer Canadian GHG emissions, and less Canadian garbage. Get that done, and perhaps Canadians can more honestly say at year-end: “The world needs more Canada.”
