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Future ecological value of emerging habitats must be considered as climate change transforms the planet.

The present study empirically investigates whether targeted government spending and environmental policies promote green growth, as measured by greenhouse gas productivity. Government spending for pollution abatement (GEPA) represents non-market environmental policies encompassing both enforcement regulations and stakeholder incentives, while policy dummy represents province specific targeted environmental policies. Using panel data from 1995 to 2020 across ten provinces of Canada, an empirical model based on STIRPAT has been developed and estimated, addressing various econometric issues to ensure the robustness and consistency of the results. The findings confirm that both GEPA and targeted environmental policies are crucial determinants in achieving green growth. Additionally, variables such as business sector expenditures for R&D, the share of renewable energy, per capita GDP, and population also contribute to green growth. These results highlight the importance of the stick-and-carrot approach as a key strategy and policy tool for sustainable development. The implications of these findings extend beyond Canada and hold valuable lessons for emerging and developing countries that predominantly rely on command-and-control regulations without adequate support. To effectively address the challenge of achieving green growth, a coordinated approach that combines targeted government spending and environmental policies, supported by innovation and renewable energy exploration, is essential. Overall, this study's findings have significant implications for environmental sustainability on a global scale. [Display omitted] • Examines the effect of targeted government spending and environmental policies on green growth in Canada. • Uses greenhouse gas productivity as an index of green growth. • Estimates the empirical model developed addressing advanced econometric issues related to panel data for 1995–2020. • Controls renewable energy, innovation, per capita income, population. • Have significant implications for environmental sustainability on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the short-run and long-run asymmetric impact of fiscal decentralization, green energy, and economic policy uncertainty on environmental sustainability proxied by ecological footprint. Using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed lag (NARDL) approach in selected five OECD countries, we find that ecological footprint responds to positive and negative fiscal decentralization asymmetrically in the long run and short run. However, the nature of the response varies significantly across countries. The result also suggests that green energy is a major factor in reducing the ecological footprint in all countries except Canada. Finally, economic policy uncertainty plays a negative and significant role in the ecological footprint in the UK, USA, and Germany while insignificant in Australia and Canada. Implications for effective environmental policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to remain high despite the federal government's commitment to reduce GHG emissions. Environmental policy across Canadian provinces has largely lacked consistency with some provinces implementing targeted policy such as carbon taxes while others have strongly resisted the federal government's attempts to encourage such policy. This study examines the impact of environmental policy on GHG gas emissions across Canadian provinces with policy uniquely measured by public and business sector spending on environmental protection as well as notable province-specific policies. An extended STIRPAT model is specified with the inclusion of proxies for environmental policy using panel data from Canada's ten provinces from 1995 to 2019. The cointegration and the error correction modelling approaches are employed to estimate the non-stationary panel data. A pooled mean group estimation is applied to provide short run and long run coefficients. The findings indicate that although per capita GDP is the main driver of GHG emissions in Canada, environmental policy has a significant mitigating effect, as shown by the negative association between emissions and private and public sector spending on environmental protection in the long run. Furthermore, provinces with targeted policies, such as Ontario's coal phase-out and British Columbia's carbon tax, experienced significant emissions reductions. The theoretical implication is the successful addition of policy variables to the STIRPAT model, providing the model a new application for future research. [Display omitted] • Assess the impact of environmental protection policies on per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. • Utilize public and private expenditures on environmental protection, along with provincial policies. • Extend the STIRPAT model to incorporate environmental protection policies in an empirical model. • Demonstrate a significant negative relationship between environmental protection policies and GHG emissions. • Offer insights with implications for global environmental sustainability efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Marine species are declining globally despite the emergence of "environmental states". • Endangered marine animals (EMAs) in Canada are threatened by industrial activities. • From 2002–2019, the state authorized 31 of 32 projects with potential impacts to EMAs. • Environmental assessments consistently predict insignificant impacts to EMAs. • The state sees EMAs in simplified and strategically illegible ways. How does the state see nature? Has the emergence of "environmental states" with significant environmental laws and policy changed the state's vision towards nonhumans, particularly endangered wildlife? These are key questions in a paradoxical context where over the past half century, endangered wildlife have largely continued to decline amid expanding state environmental legislation. Towards answers, we analyze how endangered marine animals in Canada are considered in federal environmental assessments (EAs) that inform state decisions about whether to authorize major development projects. We conducted an inductive content analysis of all federal EAs for projects with potential adverse effects for one or more of the 14 endangered marine vertebrates in Canada. Of 32 projects, 31 were approved, 30 of which were predicted to have no or insignificant impacts on endangered marine species, despite a litany of potential impacts. This analysis reveals four main justifications for predicting insignificant impacts: unproven mitigation measures; species are presumed to have a low likelihood of occurrence in project areas; species behaviour is believed to reduce the likelihood of impacts; and project impacts are characterized as minor compared to existing activity. A consistent vision of nature underpins these justifications: the state sees marine species and ocean ecologies in a simplified manner, while these species also remain strategically illegible. Simplification and strategic illegibility both devalue endangered marine animals, suggesting EA is failing endangered marine species by facilitating the state's ability to prioritize development over species recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian climate change law and policy has suffered from an implementation gap for decades. Since the 1980s, Canada has been setting and then failing to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. In this context, the federal government recently enacted the Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act (NZEAA), a step that holds the potential to reverse a trend of unimplemented commitments. The purpose of the NZEAA is to bridge the gap through a transparency and accountability framework that guides and drives implementation of existing and forthcoming federal climate change law and policy. However, the specific features, weaknesses, and implications of the NZEAA remain not well understood. Overall, it remains an open question whether the NZEAA will actually provide a bridge across the gap. This article explores that question, presenting the basics of the new law, analyzing what it means in practical terms for Canadian climate change law and policy now and into the future, and then examining weaknesses, some of which may inhibit NZEAA from having its intended impacts. The article concludes by putting forward several overarching reflections and commenting on early signs that the plan is at least beginning to bridge the implementation gap, including through the first federal Emissions Reduction Plan under the NZEAA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although North American settler governments face scrutiny over the ecological, social, and ethical shortcomings of environmental policy, many Indigenous Nations are pursuing a resurgence of environmental self-governance according to ancestral principles and practices. On the west coast of Vancouver Island, the reintroduction and prioritized conservation of sea otters by Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) actively impedes the harvest of culturally and nutritionally significant shellfish species by Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. Integrating a range of qualitative methods, we argue that structural inequities, divergent normative and material priorities, and ontological differences animate a divide between Nuu-chah-nulth and Canadian state governing bodies in sea otter management. The DFO's unwillingness to accommodate Indigenous knowledge, principles, and priorities in its sea otter management scheme reproduces the unequal power relations of settler colonialism to the detriment of Indigenous food sovereignty and security. We propose to reframe sea otter governance around the Nuu-chah-nulth principles of hišukʔiš c̓awaak (everything is one), ʔiisaak (respect with caring), and ʔuʔaałuk (taking care of). This reorientation is in alignment with the efforts of Indigenous peoples throughout Canada and globally to enact multi-species caretaking through the resurgence of self-governance rooted in ancestral knowledge and wisdom. Ultimately, we argue that a sea otter governance structure centering Nuu-chah-nulth principles, ecological knowledge, and leadership would be well-positioned to lead collaborations and respectful engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada and the United States have a rich history of policy interventions aimed at improving environmental outcomes from agricultural production. We review the agri-environmental programs in these two countries as well as the related economic literature. Despite the impacts of agriculture on land, water, and climate quality, the literature on agri-environmental programs has largely focused on a few major programs or the adoption of specific management practices. Far less research evaluates programs on active farmland, environmental regulation of agriculture, and the interactions of these policies and programs. Further research is also needed on how the heterogeneity of environmental characteristics and processes affects the outcomes of management practices and how these outcomes might be affected by climate change. Given the continued substantial impacts of agriculture on environmental outcomes, the increased interest of agricultural processors and consumers in these outcomes, and the potential for new models and data to inform research, we conclude that this is an ideal time to examine and apply lessons learned from past program successes and failures as we seek to improve the performance of the next generation of agri-environmental policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian environmental governance formally began in the 1970s with an ambitious vision critical of the status quo. Until the Justin Trudeau government from 2015, this vision had been largely eroded when compared to the transformative environmental ideas, ambition, and efforts initially put forth. Drawing on elite interviews in Canadian environmental politics and an articulation of the dominant system, we develop and demonstrate a novel explanation for Canada's systematic failure to act more ambitiously on the environment. We argue that this failure is the result of progressive selection of Canadian environmental governance in relation to the dominant system at key selection moments. It is at those moments when the environment is least prioritized and the economy most urgently needs attention that environmental governance suffers the most. The paper concludes by emphasizing how features of the dominant political-economic system not typically thought of as environmental can have systematic environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Without fundamentally altering how humans generate and utilise energy, there is no effective strategy to safeguard the environment. The motivation behind this study was to analyse the effectiveness of renewable energy in addressing climate change, as it is one of the most pressing global issues. This study involved the analysis of panel data covering 138 nations over a 27 year period, from 1995 to 2021, making it the latest addition to the existing literature. We examined the extent of the impact of renewable energy on carbon dioxide over time using panel, linear, and non-linear regression approaches. The results of our analysis, revealed that the majority of countries with the exception of Canada, exhibited a downward trend, underscoring the potential of increasing renewable energy consumption as an effective method to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change. Furthermore, to reduce emissions and combat climate change, it is advisable for nations with the highest carbon dioxide emissions to adopt and successfully transition to renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies, such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), will be critical in limiting the rise of the average global temperature over the next century. Scaling up DACCS technologies requires the support of a complex array of policies and infrastructure across multiple overlapping policy areas, such as climate, energy, technology innovation and resource management. While the literature on DACCS and other CDR technologies acknowledges the path-dependent nature of policy development, it has tended to focus on abstract policy prescriptions that are not rooted in the specific political, social and physical (infrastructural) context of the implementing state. To address this gap, this paper provides a country-level study of the emerging DACCS policy regime in Canada. Drawing on the existing literature that identifies idealized (acontextual) policy objectives that support DACCS development and effective regulation, we identify the actionable policy objectives across six issue domains: general climate mitigation strategies; energy and resource constraints; carbon storage and transport regulation and infrastructure; financing scale-up and supporting innovation; removal and capture technology availability and regulation; and addressing social acceptability and public interest. Using a database of Canadian climate policies (n = 457), we identify policies within the Canadian (federal and provincial) policy environment that map to the idealized policy objectives within each of these domains. This exercise allows us to analyze how key policy objectives for DACCS development are represented within the Canadian system, and enables us to identify potential niches, and landscape influences within the system, as well as gaps and potential barriers to the system transition process. This paper contributes to our understanding of national DACCS policy development by providing a framework for identifying components of the DAC system and linking those components to desired policy outcomes and may provide a basis for future cross-country comparisons of national-level DACCS policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores responsible investment practices at Canadian and international universities. We analyze universities' Statement of Investment Policy and Procedures and Responsible Investing Policies to understand how responsible investing is included and how this varies by region. Our results show that most university investment policies are lacking in content and specificity. We compare four different regions, Canada, the United States (USA), the United Kingdom and Ireland (UK-I) and Australia New Zealand (ANZ) in terms of responsible investment integration. We find a clear international hierarchy, with the UK-I as the most advanced region in responsible investing integration, followed by Canada and ANZ with the USA a distant last place. We develop recommendations which act as tools to help mobilize university knowledge in responsible investing, drawing on globally recognized frameworks, in two areas: governance and policy. Our recommendations are broadly applicable to any post-secondary institution and also expand to other sectors attempting to incorporate responsible investing. Implications for universities and areas for future research will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost every year, ash drifts from forest fires in north-western Canada into northern Europe, altering forecasts on both continents, settling in Antarctic ice and turning the skies over the world's major cities an apocalyptic orange. As smoke drifts from the forests into nearby communities and distant urban centres, it becomes the medium through which most people experience forest fire, leaving traces on memories and bodies. Although wildfires and their associated plumes are getting worse, people have a long and dynamic relationship with forest fire smoke which can be understood through the lens of air pollution and forestry history. Using British Columbia, Canada as a case study, I argue that the difficulty of separating wildfire smoke from other types of air pollution has worked to the advantage of land managers interested in supporting the forestry industry, with negative impacts for northern communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the need for transformative politics of nature in Canada, focusing on biodiversity loss and climate change. It highlights the decline of the monarch butterfly population and the urgency of conservation efforts. The article emphasizes the interrelationship between humans and the environment and calls for transformative shifts in governance, economic systems, and knowledge systems. It discusses Canada's conservation goals and commitments, as well as the challenges in achieving them. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for transformative change and the potential leverage points for initiating such change. The document titled "wg2020-03-03-en.pdf" is a report from the Convention on Biological Diversity, providing an overview of the progress made in implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The report highlights achievements and challenges faced by different countries in conserving biodiversity and achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, emphasizing the need for increased efforts and collaboration to address the ongoing loss of biodiversity. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the Canadian financial sector's reaction to opportunities and risks created by the green bond market in a low-carbon and climate-resilient (LCR) economy. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used a concurrent mixed methodological approach that undertakes an online survey and semistructured interviews with critical green bond market stakeholders. Findings: The most significant market driver in Canada is the reputational benefit for stakeholders, i.e. its ability to meet the high demand for sustainable finance and the marketing potential of its green credentials. The major market barriers are transactional costs, i.e. additional tracking required for reporting purposes, lack of market liquidity and identification of environmental impact or additionality. Canadian green bonds are also more likely to be evaluated on their green impact than their global market peers. Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this study include its focus on Canada, which may exclude or not apply to drivers and barriers in other green bond markets. Practical implications: The paper helps create an accounting-based conceptual framework for key motivations and barriers that affect financial decision-making regarding green bonds. Social implications: The authors identify economic and policy-related barriers and drivers for green bonds, addressing the financing gap for the LCR economy. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to identify and compare Canadian green bond market drivers and barriers and to examine relevant stakeholder- and policy-related approaches that can be targeted to scale this market effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global ecological crises like climate change pose an unprecedented threat to human rights around the world. In Canada, many people suffer human rights violations arising from avoidable pollution, and there is a concentration of polluting facilities in low-income, racialized, and Indigenous communities. However, unlike the majority of the world's constitutions, our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not include the right to a healthy environment. This article argues that our Constitution is nonetheless capable of protecting Canadians from serious state-sponsored environmental harm. Such harm may violate Charter rights, such as freedom of religion, equality, life, liberty, and security of the person (as well as multiple Indigenous rights under section 35 of the Constitution). Extending Charter protection to environmentally mediated harm does not involve a reinterpretation or expansion of existing Charter rights; it simply requires an ecologically literate understanding of how such rights may be violated or respected. Beyond the Charter, this article argues that there is a deeper constitutional imperative to preserve the ecological systems upon which our society depends. Environmental stewardship has a long history among our founding juridical traditions and has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada as a "fundamental value" and a "public purpose of superordinate importance." Recognition of an unwritten constitutional principle of ecological sustainability would provide guidance for environmental policy and would assist courts in adjudicating environmental claims against the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic pollution is a global problem and many countries are strengthening their regulations to mitigate the related environmental degradation and health risks and to support the development and deployment of circular economy for various types of plastics. As Canada also develops its strategy for regulating single-use plastic as one element of the plastic pollution, aligned federal and provincial policies are essential. This study presents an analysis of existing and emerging policies to provide guidance on Canada's future regulations. Qualitative and quantitative data regarding plastic regulations were gathered from similar countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and relevant scientific articles. Analysis was also conducted of current Canadian regulations that both impact and guide the path for plastic regulation, international examples provided guidance for future Canadian regulations. The analysis found that there is a need for public education on the gravity of plastic pollution to gain their support; for establishing pioneering provinces or cities in plastic regulations to learn from and provide other cities with support; and to start with banning items with available alternatives, to be followed by phasing out other items that are more difficult to replace. The study also showed potential areas of improvement in impact data. The need for reliable regulatory performance data against a baseline scenario; consistency in methodology; and proper scoping to reduce the risk of displacement or exclusivity in policy were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established in science and technology studies that participation and expert analysis should not be seen as contradictory. Key analytical questions include how both public and expert knowledge contribute to "closing down" and "opening up" appraisals and commitments, and how important these dynamics are in assessing the process and the conditions of democratizing technology. This article examines how the participatory turn has affected nuclear waste governance options in France and Canada. Through cross-case analysis, it describes how at each constitutive step of management programs, public and expert knowledge has followed a variety of pathways in (in)forming commitments, resulting in asymmetrical trade-offs. The term "closing up commitment" is introduced to refer to the way both national governments finally opted for closing the technological options at hand while introducing new conditions that might challenge future actions. We argue that paying attention to this mutation in nuclear governance allows for a more detailed analysis of power distributions in science and technology governance than a critical approach that rejects any closure because it can be (and often is) the result of an instrumental approach undertaken by the incumbent actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture eco-certification is associated with some producer-level benefits including price premiums and market access; however, reputational benefits from eco-certification are unclear. A public survey was used to understand the effect of eco-certification on opinion of salmon farming in two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Nova Scotia) and differences between communities where farms are located (communities of place) and communities geographically distant from farms (communities of interest). Eco-certification had an overall positive effect on opinion, especially amongst people with a negative opinion of salmon farming who value far-reaching social outcomes of farming. Communities of interest had a more negative opinion of salmon farming and eco-certified salmon farming and were more concerned about local environmental impacts than communities of place while communities of place valued economic outcomes more than communities of interest. The role of eco-certification in public acceptance of aquaculture is limited by a lack of trust in eco-certification and failure to address local issues including conflict amongst marine users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments engage the public and stakeholders at various scales and scopes prior to the launch of new policy initiatives or reforms to existing programs. This article presents the results of a survey of Canadian public servants (N = 663) in which respondents were presented with common dilemmas faced when conducting public engagement, such as those related to time pressure, inclusion, representation, and public resistance, all of which represent key trade-offs inherent in this work, and were asked to recommend a path forward from binary choices. In response to common dilemmas of public engagement, public servants working in this area in Canada show clear patterns in terms of their reactions to time pressure and inclusion/exclusion considerations, but appear divided on how to resolve dilemmas as they relate to representation and public resistance – the two dilemmas with more political dimensions. These findings suggest that public servants working in this realm exhibit an adaptability and political sensitivity to the particular public engagement issue area and scenario presented to them, rather than relying upon idealized models of public engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The growth of urban dwelling populations globally has led to rapid increases of research and policy initiatives addressing associations between the built environment and physical activity (PA). Given this rapid proliferation, it is important to identify priority areas and research questions for moving the field forward. The objective of this study was to identify and compare research priorities on the built environment and PA among researchers and knowledge users (e.g., policy makers, practitioners). Methods: Between September 2022 and April 2023, a three-round, modified Delphi survey was conducted among two independent panels of international researchers (n = 38) and knowledge users (n = 23) to identify similarities and differences in perceived research priorities on the built environment and PA and generate twin 'top 10' lists of the most important research needs. Results: From a broad range of self-identified issues, both panels ranked in common the most pressing research priorities including stronger study designs such as natural experiments, research that examines inequalities and inequities, establishing the cost effectiveness of interventions, safety and injuries related to engagement in active transportation (AT), and considerations for climate change and climate adaptation. Additional priorities identified by researchers included: implementation science, research that incorporates Indigenous perspectives, land-use policies, built environments that support active aging, and participatory research. Additional priorities identified by knowledge users included: built environments and PA among people living with disabilities and a need for national data on trip chaining, multi-modal travel, and non-work or school-related AT. Conclusions: Five common research priorities between the two groups emerged, including (1) to better understand causality, (2) interactions with the natural environment, (3) economic evaluations, (4) social disparities, and (5) preventable AT-related injuries. The findings may help set directions for future research, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations, and funding opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from an investigation of nature-based practices, from the perspectives of 10 academics/educators from six nations. Participants engaged in a focus group exploring the prevalence and inclusion of nature in social work practice and education. While the study focused on individual members' experiences and perspectives, the findings highlight important context-specific factors for including nature within social work to reconnect humans with nature for health, well-being, healing, and justice. An Integrative Environmental Model for social work is proposed to assist future practice and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been widely criticized by the aquatic science community for poorly aligned approaches when selecting endpoints and collecting data during the baseline, predictive modeling, and postdevelopment monitoring phases. If these critical phases of the EIA process are not aligned properly, it can be difficult to evaluate the presence of postdevelopment effects. Examples of the misalignment of these phases include baseline studies failing to measure indicators that are monitored postdevelopment; predictive assessments that do not quantitatively predict conditions or potential impacts postdevelopment; and the failure to identify relevant indicators that may detect effects postdevelopment. For aquatic assessments, understanding how to protect critical ecosystem attributes to satisfy regulatory concerns could help to better align aquatic science monitoring activities across EIA phases. In this article we investigate recent Canadian hydroelectric dam EIAs to evaluate how well recent assessment approaches are meeting these necessary conditions of good aquatic EIA practice through the lens of ecosystem services from a fish's perspective. We found that larger facilities generally had baseline studies and modeling that better supported postdevelopment monitoring, but improvements in structure, linkages, and expectations would better align EIA phases in a manner that would improve assessments and environmental protection. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:616-644. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

The story of Canadian administrative law could be seen as a move toward deference driven by some fundamental decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Debates about this move centre on the proper role for reviewing courts as well as the politics lying behind administrative law decisions. Most recently, the 2019 Supreme Court decision in Vavilov raised concerns that it licenses judges to undertake more intrusive review. Key to this story is the assumption that these groundbreaking decisions of the Supreme Court influence how lower court judges decide challenges in the administrative law context. Prior empirical studies have found that the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Dunsmuir increased the use of the reasonableness standard of review as well as the rate at which judges affirm administrative decisions. However, it can be difficult to empirically account for the variety of contexts and decision makers involved. This article uses decisions of the Federal Court to examine whether Dunsmuir and Vavilov changed how judges decide. It finds that, while the use of reasonableness has dramatically increased, the rate at which judges affirm administrative decisions has not changed over time. The article discusses these results and what they imply about the influence of these groundbreaking Supreme Court decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rewilding attempts to increase biodiversity and restore natural ecosystem processes by reducing human influence. Today, there is growing interest in rewilding urban areas. Rewilding of the Detroit, Michigan, USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada metropolitan area, and its shared natural resource called the Detroit River, has been delineated through the reintroduction of peregrine falcons and osprey, and a return of other sentinel species like bald eagles, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, walleye, beaver, and river otter. Rewilding has helped showcase the value and benefits of environmental protection and restoration, ecosystem services, habitat rehabilitation and enhancement, and conservation, including social and economic benefits. Improved ecosystem health and rewilding have become a catalyst for re-establishing a reconnection between urban denizens and natural resources through greenways and water trails. The provision of compelling outdoor experiences in nature, in turn, can help foster a personal attachment to the particular place people call home that can help inspire a stewardship ethic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents one of the first critical social science interrogations of an agrifood just-in-case transition. The just-in-case transition speaks to a philosophy that values building buffers and flexibility into longer value chains to make them more resilient to shocks, which stands in contrast to the just-in-time philosophy with its emphasis on long, specialized, and often inflexible networks. Influenced by COVID-related disruptions and climate change induced uncertainties, the just-in-case transition examined here centers on the heightened interest in vertical farm-anchored supply chains. Interviewing actors responsible for promoting vertical farm-anchored local supply chains in the US and Canada, I attempt to sketch out how these spaces, infrastructures, and practices care. Put differently, as understood through a feminist ethics of care, whom and what are cared for and how is care practiced in these just-in-case transitions and why? Enumerative politics was observed in the data—the idea that we can make care count. Practices and discourses linked to infrastructural/supply chain transitions are highlighted that result in care being narrowly conceived as a technical or transactional matter. The paper concludes reflecting on what it means to afford just-in-case agrifood transitions animated by matters of care that hold greater emancipatory potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the role of government spending on environmental sustainability based on a framework that combines the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis with the Armey curve hypothesis. Specifically, the inverted U-shaped relationships between carbon (CO2) emissions and economic growth (EKC hypothesis) and between government spending and economic growth (Armey curve hypothesis) are analyzed using a composite EKC model tested for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity, panel unit root, panel co-integration, and the augmented mean group estimation. In so doing, this study pursues a potential transmission mechanism leading from government spending to CO2 emissions through the growth channel and presents a novel way to develop a better understanding of how economic growth policy and energy policy can be synchronized. Empirical results show that economic growth acts as a transmitter between government spending and CO2 emissions in the USA, UK, and Canada. However, the composite EKC hypotehesis is confirmed only for the USA and Canada, where the optimal level of government spending that maximizes CO2 emissions is 29.87% and 29.22% of GDP, respectively. In contrast, the optimal level of government spending equivalent to 28.30% of GDP minimizes CO2 emissions in the UK. The key policy implication is that governments can achieve sustainable economic growth by setting standards for their spending levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a legal explanation for the decline of honeybees. While most investigations into bee populations and bee survival rates have been scientific, this article provides an additional set of causes, showing how our legal definitions of property and standards of negligence contribute to a landscape hostile to the lives of bees. Examining recent litigation in the United States and Canada, it shows how legal concepts of property impact the lives of bees, especially in cases of pesticide overspray near property boundaries, and in the forms of knowledge and ignorance in play in contesting duties of care in negligence cases. By expanding our understanding of the causes of bee death, this article points toward additional ways in which the stressors that bees face might be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian government recently oriented its foreign policy in a 'feminist' direction, including the launch of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP). At the same time, the Trudeau government has also reoriented Canada's efforts to address climate change, ratifying the Paris Agreement in 2016. This article reviews Canada's Paris Agreement commitments, formalized in Canada's Nationally Determined Contributions and National Communications, through the lens of feminist analysis. While Canada has made significant efforts to mainstream gender into its climate commitments, these commitments emphasize a focus on women in the Global South and the reinforcement of common assumptions about women, climate change and development. In doing so, Canada's efforts to integrate gender into its global climate commitments overlook the realities of gender and climate change in the Global North, as well as areas in which feminist analysis is needed, specifically in technological development and strategies to mitigate climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the digitisation of the ocean reconfigure capitalist, colonial, and environmental relations? What analytic tools allow us to trace their intersecting dynamics? These are the central questions that we take up through an examination of smart oceans governance along the west coast of Canada, where the state is developing new institutional partnerships to manage the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure across unceded Indigenous lands and waters. In this context, laden with environmental risks and resurgent anti‐colonial politics, state actors are implicating smart oceans governance in efforts to harmonise capitalist growth with sustainability mandates and the 'recognition' of Indigenous self‐determination. Our analysis draws on environmental state theory, critical indigenous studies, and human geographies of the ocean, to analyse interviews, Access to Information requests, scientific studies, and policy reports. Our findings suggest that smart oceans governance poses novel risks to Indigenous peoples and their distinctive 'seascape epistemologies'. At the same time, we observe in this medium new limits to the state's ability to consolidate settler colonial authority and extend possessive colonial entitlements to Indigenous lands and waters. First Nations are also engaging with smart oceans governance in ways that assert 'Indigenous data sovereignty', help chart their own political and territorial ambitions, and carve out meaningful spaces of Indigenous marine stewardship. A comprehensive overview of the politics of smart oceans ‐ that is, ensembles of data intensive sensing tools and associated marine governance practices. The paper draws examples from the west coast of Canada where it finds new risks to First Nations governance but also moments where smart oceans governance is being leveraged by communities to support their political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The willingness of defence departments to select the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for their fifth-generation multirole fighter has frequently been analyzed as stemming from the close historical connections allies such as Japan or Canada have with the United States. However, such an approach glosses over or ignores the operation of military procurement processes which are more idiosyncratic and subject to many pushes and pulls from different actors and directions. This article compares the experiences of Australia and Canada in procuring the JSF. Both countries are British Commonwealth members, with a long history of supporting western, and in particular, US alliances. But while Australia has secured its F-35 procurement and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has already received its F-35s, Canada has only recently overcome a lengthy F-35 procurement battle that remains mired in controversy and will not deliver to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) an aircraft for several years yet. This comparative case study between Australian and Canadian defence priorities offers a new explanation for this disparity of procurement success based on the need to both create and maintain alignment between government strategic defence policy and military service doctrine if major platform purchasing decisions are to survive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature is ambivalent on the relationship between unionization and climate change. There is some anecdotal evidence that in some cases, labor unions play a role in implementing climate protection measures. In other cases, unions were more concerned with saving jobs than with reducing emissions. Nonetheless, empirical studies on the relationship between unions and environmental outcomes are limited. The objective of this study is to fill the gap in the literature by examining if unionization has any impact on CO2 emissions in Canada, after controlling for energy consumption, unemployment rate, and real GDP per capita. Cointegration techniques including Johansen methods and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) techniques are applied to a dataset that covers the period from 1969 to 2016. The results suggest that, on average, a 1% increase in unionization reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 0.25%. This is the first study that examines the union-climate dynamics for Canada. One policy implication of the finding is that the governments should develop incentives for industries to implement climate measures through collective bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged against the backdrop of the longer-term climate change crisis and increasing global awareness of the imperative for climate action, disrupting the post-Paris trajectory of climate policy and media coverage of climate change. We examine news media coverage from Canadian legacy newspapers and answer three questions. First, did the COVID-19 pandemic work as a critical event in its impacts on news media coverage of climate change, and if so, in what ways? Second, did media framing of climate change shift in response to this critical event, and if so, in what ways? Third, are there notable differences between national and subnational media frames? We find that COVID-19 is a critical event linked to a period of reduced media coverage of climate change. However, this critical event also opened new spaces for news framing that connects environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the first nationwide spatial assessment of flood risk to identify social vulnerability and flood exposure hotspots that support policies aimed at protecting high‐risk populations and geographical regions of Canada. The study used a national‐scale flood hazard dataset (pluvial, fluvial, and coastal) to estimate a 1‐in‐100‐year flood exposure of all residential properties across 5721 census tracts. Residential flood exposure data were spatially integrated with a census‐based multidimensional social vulnerability index (SoVI) that included demographic, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic indicators influencing vulnerability. Using Bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (BiLISA) cluster maps, the study identified geographic concentration of flood risk hotspots where high vulnerability coincided with high flood exposure. The results revealed considerable spatial variations in tract‐level social vulnerability and flood exposure. Flood risk hotspots belonged to 410 census tracts, 21 census metropolitan areas, and eight provinces comprising about 1.7 million of the total population and 51% of half‐a‐million residential properties in Canada. Results identify populations and the geographic regions near the core and dense urban areas predominantly occupying those hotspots. Recognizing priority locations is critically important for government interventions and risk mitigation initiatives considering socio‐physical aspects of vulnerability to flooding. Findings reinforce a better understanding of geographic flood‐disadvantaged neighborhoods across Canada, where interventions are required to target preparedness, response, and recovery resources that foster socially just flood management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this empirical case study is to study and explain the role of public leadership in the expansion of municipal climate action in Canada. Design/methodology/approach: In 2017 and 2018, the authors conducted13 semi-directed interviews with municipal staff and elected officials from three municipalities, a documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources. Interviews and documentation collected were also coded using the software NVIVO 12. The authors compared three municipal case studies: the City of Toronto (Ontario), the City of Guelph (Ontario), and the Town of Bridgewater (Nova Scotia). Findings: The authors found that leadership is a prominent factor explaining the expansion of municipal climate action in Canada. Municipal climate action is initiated and championed by an individual, elected officials or municipal staff, who lead and engage in the development of policy instruments to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change. These leaders facilitate the formulation and implementation of instruments, encourage a paradigm shift within the municipality, overcome structural and behavioural barriers, and foster collaboration around a common vision. Optimal municipal climate leadership occurs when the leadership of elected officials and municipal is congruent, though networks play a significant role by amplifying municipal sustainability leadership. They support staff and elected officials leadership within municipalities, provide more information and funding to grow the capacity of municipalities to develop instruments, to the point that conditions under which municipalities are driving climate action are changing. Research limitations/implications: This paper hopes to contribute to better understand under what conditions municipalities drive change. Originality/value: There is an international scholarly recognition that municipalities should be further explored and considered important actors in the Canadian and international climate change governance. Gore (2010) and Robinson and Gore (2015) highlighted that we are yet to understand the extent to which municipalities are involved in climate governance in Canada. This article directly addresses this gap in the current scholarly literature and explores the expansion of climate municipal leadership with the aspects of interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater are three components of an Urban Water System. Maintenance of these components requires evaluation of the existing performance of the water system. The evaluation becomes more significant in small and medium-sized water systems because these systems wrestle with various constraints, such as insufficient funds, inadequate infrastructure and water governance. In this study, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are identified for each UWS component considering six performance criteria. A questionnaire was distributed to water utilities across the Okanagan Valley. KPIs were identified by combining Delphi technique and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation methods. Ninety-six KPIs were identified with 39, 30, and 27 KPIs for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. Based on the available literature, agriculture water use, low impact development implementation (LID), average annual life cycle investment, and swimming advisories are a few notable KPIs that are unique to the Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Chemical Valley" in Sarnia, Ontario, the site of almost half of Canada's chemical industry, is one of the most polluted areas in the country. It is also home to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, whose community members, as a result of their proximity to this cluster of polluting facilities, experience much higher risk and actual harm to their health than other Canadians. The lack of cumulative impact assessments for major industrial projects under Ontario's environmental laws has created and perpetuated a "sacrifice zone" in Chemical Valley, where the residents experience environmental injustices. As the understanding of environmental injustices experienced by the Aamjiwnaang First Nation has evolved, the Constitution has become a focal point for advancing environmental justice in "Chemical Valley" and in similarly situated communities. Inspired by the Charter claims in the Lockridge u. Ontario lawsuit brought by Aamjiwnaang residents against the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, this Note examines the potential for sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to address and remedy the environmental injustices impacting the Aamjiwnaang First Nation due to the cumulative impacts of longterm exposure to air pollution from multiple facilities. To better understand how the Charter can serve as a tool to combat environmental injustices in "Chemical Valley" and other pollution hotspots, this Note applies sections 7 and 15 to environmental justice claimants in pollution hotspot cases, drawing upon the experiences of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in "Chemical Valley." It argues that sections 7 and 15 of the Charter can help address the kinds of environmental injustices experienced by the residents of "Chemical Valley" as a result of the Ontario government's issuance of permits to major industrial projects without requiring a cumulative impact assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal official plans are useful for mainstreaming transportation objectives into local development planning and decision-making processes. Using a plan quality evaluation, this article assesses whether and how well transportation planning is integrated in municipal official plans of the 30 most populous municipalities in Canada. The results suggest this integration is weak, with a notable absence of rigorous data to inform transportation content in official plans, and poor monitoring and evaluation of transportation goals and policies. Furthermore, few plans provided details about how transportation-related policies would be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the practice of holding prime ministers to account in four case studies: Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Using text analysis, as well as research on prime ministerial responsibilities, it investigates oral questions asked in parliamentary procedures where prime ministers are questioned together with ministers (Question Period in Canada and Question Time in Australia) versus procedures where they are questioned individually (PMQs in the United Kingdom and Oral Questions to the Taoiseach in Ireland), and explores the degree to which they are questioned for matters that are within their remit. It argues that the practice of prime ministerial accountability is decisively shaped by procedural features such as whether written notice is required for questions, as well as by the broader role of the questioning mechanism in the political system, and less by the collective or individualised nature of questioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current paper studies the nexus between fiscal decentralization, renewable energy intensity, and carbon footprints in Canada. Preliminary empirical findings strictly reject the preposition of data normality and highlight that the observed nexus is quantile dependent. Additionally, our test looks for systematic deviations from zero in the causality at a certain quantile and frequency. In particular, we consider the bootstrap Fourier Granger causality test in quantile. At each frequency, we test the sample causality against the distribution of the median causality across frequencies estimated for that process, which may disclose the misleading causal link in previous studies using only traditional Granger causality. Our results show a negative one-way Granger causality from fiscal decentralization to carbon footprints (quantiles: 0.1–0.9) and renewable energy intensity to carbon footprints, respectively (quantiles: 0.1–0.9). Herein, results show a positive one-way Granger causality through fiscal decentralization to renewable energy intensity (quantiles: 0.3–0.7). These conclusions are used to formulate policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]