Green Budget Coalition Responds to Budget 2011
Green Budget Coalition Responds to Budget 2011
March 24, 2011 (Ottawa) – The Green Budget Coalition (GBC), comprising 21 of Canada’s leading environmental and conservation organisations, today assessed the 2011 federal budget for its progress on the GBC’s environmental and conservation priorities, as outlined in Recommendations for Budget 2011, sent to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in November 2010.
| Issue | Green Budget Coalition Recommendation | Budget 2011 (all amounts totals except for subsidies) |
| Energy efficiency |
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$400M in 2011-12 for existing ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. |
| Conservation Plan for Canada |
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$5.5M over 5 years to establish Mealy Mountains National Park in Labrador. |
| Canada’s Freshwater Resources |
|
$5M over 2 years to “improve nearshore water and ecosystem health, and better address the presence of phosphorous in the Great Lakes”. |
| Subsidy Reform |
|
Reduced the preferential deduction rates for intangible capital expenses in oil sands projects, to align them with the rates in the conventional oil and gas sector, phased in over 5 years. Will increase tax revenues by$15M & $30M in first 2 years, to about $100M/year in 2016-17. |
|
No action aligned with GBC recommendation. Instead, an additional $405M was provided to AECL in 2011-12 to “cover anticipated commercial losses and support the corporation’s operations”. |
|
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No action aligned with GBC recommendation. Instead, the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit was extended for one year. $90Mnet revenue reduction over 2011-13. |
|
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Ended $250,000 annual subsidy to Chrysotile Institute, starting in 2011-12. | |
| Clean Air Agenda | Renew funding (averaged $642.5M over 2007-11) | $870M over 2 years to renew Clean Air Agenda, of which $400M was for home retrofits(noted above) and $252M over 2 years was for regulatory activities. |
| Chemicals Management Plan | Renew funding (averaged $75M/yr over 2007-11) | $200M over 2 years to renew Chemicals Management Plan. |
The GBC also anticipates environmental and conservation impacts from the following measures:
- Deploying clean energy technologies in aboriginal and northern communities.
- Helping First Nations upgrade or replace their fuel tanks to meet new environmental safety standards.
- Renewing support for Contaminated Sites Action Plan.
- Within the Clean Air Agenda funding:
- Improving understanding of climate change impacts.
- Developing transportation sector regulations and next-generation clean transportation initiatives.
- Expanding eligibility for the accelerated capital cost allowance for equipment that generates electricity from waste heat from industrial processes.
- Funding for:
- Departmental spending freezes.
- Strategic and Operating Review.
There were no measures related to the GBC’s recommendations for:
- Building Canada’s solar hot water industry and mapping Canada’s geothermal potential.
- Providing Canada’s fair share for global climate finance.
- Investing in public transit (over and above gas tax funding).
- Pricing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Natural capital indicators.
- Extending Ecogifts tax incentives.
The Green Budget Coalition’s members are Bird Studies Canada, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Centre for Integral Economics, David Suzuki Foundation, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ecojustice Canada, Environmental Defence Canada, Équiterre, Friends of the Earth Canada, Greenpeace Canada, International Institute for Sustainable Development, MiningWatch Canada, Nature Canada, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Pembina Institute, Pollution Probe, Sierra Club Canada, Social Investment Organization, Wildlife Habitat Canada, and WWF-Canada.
The GBC submits priority recommendations for each annual federal budget. The GBC’s full Recommendations for Budget 2011 document is available athttp://www.greenbudget.ca/2011/main.html.
For more information, please contact:
General:
Andrew Van Iterson, Manager, Green Budget Coalition, 613-562-3447 ext. 243
Alison Woodley, Interim Chair, Green Budget Coalition; National Conservation Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS); 613-569-7226 ext. 230, awoodley@cpaws.org
For specific recommendations:
- Nature conservation – Alison Woodley (as above)
- Energy – Tim Weis, Pembina Institute, 780-667-6519, timw@pembina.org
- Freshwater & subsidy reform – Andrew Van Iterson (as above)
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