Canadian Environmental Policy: Ecosystems, Politics, and Process

Ken A. Armson, a former executive co-ordinator of the Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources’ Forest Resources Group, is currently a forestry
consultant.

This collection of 13 papers addresses three themes in Canadian
environmental policies: government frameworks and processes; the
influence of public opinion and pressure groups on political decisions;
and the international context of environmental policy decision-making.
The introduction sets the stage and notes that the initial focus on
specific instances of pollution has changed to consideration of broader
environmental-economic linkages. Most recently, these broader aspects
have become associated with ideological and philosophical positions that
encompass feminism and Native rights.

The first five papers deal with the policy process and the complexity
of intergovernmental relationships. The important contribution of the
little-known Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and
its predecessors since 1964 is noted. The next five papers deal with the
manner in which the three main political parties have responded to
internal and external pressures, in terms of their stances on both
general and local environmental issues. This section also deals with the
nature of environmental lobby groups, while one of its chapters, the
only one to come from a nonacademic, addresses the influence of the
media. The final three papers discuss the international context of
Canada’s environmental policies, not only in terms of shared air and
water, as between Canada and the United States, but also in the larger
economic sense. This section leads up to the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), but does not deal with the environmental issues
related to it.

This book should be read by anyone interested in the development of
environmental policies. These policies and related legislation have come
to assume an increasingly dominant role in controlling society’s
actions. What has characterized past policies, and what is a continuing
weakness in our present system, is best stated by Vaughan Lyon:
“Creative energy goes into crisis management rather than into analysis
and follow-up action designed to alter policy-making structures and
processes so that they encourage crisis aversion.”