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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]

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]

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]

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]

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 European Union (EU) has historically sought to influence environmental policies of other countries through multilateral environmental agreements. Under its 7th Environmental Action Plan and Trade for All strategy it now seeks to extend its environmental policy projection through trade; its recent free trade agreements now contain chapters addressing environment and sustainable development. However, by adopting high environmental standards the EU can also advance its own economic interests suggesting an ambiguous motivation. The recent Korean, Japanese and Canadian FTAs and the Mercosur agreements are examined in order to place the extent of this environmental turn within the context of economic advantage. The finding is that while environmental protection provisions in these FTAs may have environmental benefits, they may also serve EU domestic economic interests. This motivation has implications for new FTA negotiations, such as those with New Zealand and Australia, and now the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than any previous presidential transition, the 2016 election of Donald Trump gave rise to fears on both sides of the border as to what consequences might follow for the state of the environment. In Canada, by contrast, the 2015 election of a Liberal government was widely expected to produce a significant increase in both environmental spending and regulation. Divergence in the environmental policies of the two countries and friction over transboundary environmental issues appeared likely. Three years after the election of President Trump, the environmental policy conflicts between Canada and the United States are fewer and less fractious than many anticipated. Moreover, the consequences for Canada of the Trump administration's weaker concern for the environment also have been less dire than many predicted. In short, the environmental relationship between Canada and the United States has proved to be more resilient than expected. Two main factors are responsible for blunting the bilateral effects of an undeniable and wide gap between the Trudeau and Trump governments on the environment. One involves the nature of environmental policy, characterized by high levels of technical and scientific complexity, multiple stakeholders, and the important role of subnational governments. The second factor involves governmental structure. In particular, the American system of divided powers makes it more difficult than Canada's more centralized, prime ministerial system of government to change the direction of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With unprecedented losses in biodiversity, the need for stronger environmental policy has emerged as a conservation priority. Yet recovery planning for imperiled species remains a cumbersome, slow legislative process. In the present article, we examine features of recovery planning for species listed under Canada's Species at Risk Act to determine those influencing recovery planning duration. We found that the time to completion of recovery strategies increases with the number of jurisdictions concurrently listing the species, greater land tenure diversity, species population size, and road density. Species at risk in Canada with no listing status in the United States also suffered longer delays. To achieve a more efficient, timely, and defensible implementation of recovery planning, we recommend that governments prioritize recovery planning on the basis of risk level, promote transjurisdictional collaboration among listing agencies, anticipate and mitigate conservation challenges associated with multitenured and developed landscapes, and adopt procedures that enhance compliance with legislated timelines for recovery planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators who introduce critical socio-ecological issues into learning contexts often experience formidable internal and external challenges. This is especially true when intersecting Indigenous and environmental issues are involved. Compounding such difficulties in Canada is an inadequate level of pre-service, curricular, resource, and research support in this area. As such, while an increasing number of bold educators are incorporating discussion of Indigenous environmental issues, activism, and related history, law, and policy into their teaching practice, many others are interested, but remain understandably reticent. This study explored the experiences of educators in a variety of contexts across Canada with attempting to incorporate critical consideration of Indigenous environmental issues into their teaching practice. Findings include discussion of challenges encountered, successful strategies employed, the societal significance of these considerations, and future research possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we characterized as a metropolitan eco-regime whereas Vancouver is in a period of fragmentation without a stable metropolitan regime. This is best explained by the differing state-level regulatory contexts and the different forms of polycentricity influenced by state action. Differences in regime and governance structure result in differently drawn and expanded urban growth boundaries with subsequent differences in land-use outcomes. We conclude with observations about state-level action and subsequent forms of polycentricity to support metropolitan eco-regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The environmental elements of the quinquennial agricultural policy frameworks are probably the largest agri‐environmental programs in Canada and have been running for about 15 years. Formal evaluation of their effectiveness has either not been done, or is not available for researchers and policy analysts to compare with other agri‐environmental policy efforts. This address introduces this problem and attempts to examine evaluative approaches using Alberta's Growing Forward 1 and 2 environmental stewardship programs. While this attempt has uncovered significant data issues, there is evidence that program managers targeted funds to areas where water quality risks are of concern. The review also questions the requirement that producers eligible for funding must have an Environmental Farm Plan. After 15 years of having this requirement, I argue that it's time for Alberta's environmental stewardship program to relax this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of increasing eff orts by various provinces to regulate interprovincial pipelines, especially British Columbia, this article considers the constitutionality of provincial and municipal assertions of regulatory authority over such pipelines, which are otherwise regulated by the National Energy Board on the authority of the federal government pursuant to subparagraph 92(10)(a) of the Constitution Act, 1867. Th e article begins by setting out some of these provincial eff orts and then provides a primer on the applicable legal doctrines and principles: namely, federal paramountcy, interjurisdictional immunity, and co-operative federalism. It then identifies and summarizes the most important recent administrative and judicial decisions to consider the constitutionality of provincial and municipal regulation in the interprovincial pipeline context. As will be seen, although some uncertainty remains, when viewed in aggregate these decisions and judgments shed considerable light on the contours of provincial and municipal authority over such pipelines. Th e next part of the paper frames the analysis that is likely to be applied to British Columbia's most recent and ambitious eff orts to enact spill response and recovery legislation that would apply to interprovincial pipelines, including the contentious Trans Mountain expansion pipeline project approved by the federal government in 2016. Th e article concludes with some observations about Canada's current pipeline debate and environmental law and policy more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Confederation in 1867, official Canadian settler government policy on the environment has sought to simultaneously preserve “wilderness” and exploit natural resources for market gain. In the 1960s, the nascent North American modern environmental movement pushed for stronger regulation on pollution and toxics - and a more institutionalised state-led response to environmental problems emerged. Throughout the last five decades, three principal “eras” of federal government reaction have emerged in response to mounting scientific evidence and public pressure to act on environmental issues. The first, from the late-1960s to mid-1980s, saw the development and implementation of early environmental policy and programmes. The second era, from the mid-1980s to mid-2000s co-occurred alongside the rise of the sustainable development paradigm, and is marked by the Canadian government’s attempt at leadership on the global stage. The third era, from the mid-2000s to 2015, demonstrates a shift from environmental regime-building and multilateral collaboration toward rollbacks and obstructionism. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government of Canada reversed decades of progress and cooperation on the environment and sustainable development through its muzzling of government scientists, superficial co-optation of climate policy, rollbacks of environmental legislation and disparagement of environmental activists. In total, by shifting the federal government from a position of ineffective benevolence on environmental issues to one of contention and antagonism, the Harper government’s approach represents a departure from Canadian environmental governance norms and sought to remake the identity of Canada as an energy superpower inextricably tied to its oil and gas industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various “smart grid” technologies can help achieve a region's environmental and climate mitigation goals by facilitating the deployment of renewable energy sources, transportation electrification, energy conservation and load-shifting of electricity use. This study reviews and explores the role of environmental framing in the socio-political acceptance of smart grid technologies by citizens, media, and key stakeholders, using the case study of British Columbia, Canada—a low carbon electricity-based region where smart grid deployment has been mandated as part of climate change legislation. We collected and analyzed data from British Columbia via a survey of Canadian citizens implemented in 2013 (n = 2930), a media analysis of newspaper articles from 2007 to 2012, and interviews with key stakeholders in 2013. We find that overall citizen acceptance of one smart grid technology (smart meters) is relatively low in British Columbia, but acceptance doubles when the survey explicitly describes smart meters according to positive frames, namely environmental benefits without installation costs or mandatory enrolment. In contrast, we find that media and key stakeholders in British Columbia focus more on economic frames of smart grid deployment (e.g. reducing electricity costs) than environmental frames (e.g. climate abatement). Further, we find that news media mention smart grid risks 50% more frequently than benefits. By comparing these different aspects of socio-political acceptance, we suggest that key stakeholders seeking to deploy smart grid technology could better stimulate citizen support in certain jurisdictions by more actively using positive, pro-environmental frames and by better engaging with citizens earlier in the technology and policy design and deployment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart grid technologies are an important dimension of electricity system change and governments have been actively involved in their diffusion in a number of jurisdictions. Deployment rates for technologies involving the public have varied, despite governments pursuing similar policies/programs and implementing comparable technologies, such as smart meters. An important question is why. Examining smart grids in the media can be helpful in understanding these differences. Media coverage represents a means through which to gauge how issues are being framed, which can in turn influence public perceptions of these technologies. We examine media coverage of smart grids in national-level Canadian newspapers over time to explore how often and what aspects of smart grids are emphasized within this context. We found that while initially more positive aspects of smart grids were highlighted, over time media coverage of smart grid technologies and deployment programs became more negative. This suggests that people's perceptions of technologies are likely entwined with the processes in which people become exposed to them – negative experiences with the implementation programs often correlated to negative perceptions of technologies. We also found that negative technology and program attributes were more pronounced in certain regions of Canada versus others despite embarking upon similar policies and programs aimed at advancing smart grids (introducing smart meters). In addition, the specific risks and benefits differed, depending on the sub-national geographic setting. Thus, in designing and executing policies, decision makers ought to be cognizant of issue framing and which ones will resonate more within their local context. As smart grid proponents seek to introduce a further array of technologies into societies, we suggest that they concurrently carefully consider the channels in which people become exposed to and experience these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing volumes of solid waste, implicated in environmental pollution and health problems, are central to the current environmental crisis. In two randomized field experiments, we demonstrate that convenience dramatically boosts recycling and composting rates in multi-family dwellings and university residences. When compost bins were placed on each floor in a multi-family residence, instead of on the ground floor, composting rates increased by 70%, diverting 27 kilograms of compost from the landfill per unit per year. When recycling stations were placed just meters from suites in student residences, instead of in the basement, recycling increased by 147% (container), and 137% (paper), and composting increased by 139%, diverting 23, 22, and 14 kilograms of containers, paper, and compost, respectively, from the landfill per person per year. Simply making recycling and composting convenient can significantly increase waste diversion, and as such this single intervention has important implications for waste management and environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the environmental performance of built environments has received wider interest in the recent past. Asset management is an under-utilized strategy to enhance and maintain desired environmental performance of a building at low life cycle costs (LCC). Current asset management decision-making methods are not fully capable of incorporating future technological changes and complex time sensitive environmental demands. There is a knowledge gap in incorporating factors such as environmental performance, risk and time sensitivity to foster dynamic asset management decision making. This paper presents a multi-period asset management method for public buildings to minimize LCC and attain climate action goals. A scenario planning approach is used to incorporate future changes in technologies, costs and organizational policies. Risk based prioritization is used to compare and select maintenance alternatives in a given period. Value at risk is used to identify the lowest risk capital planning strategy for an organization. The proposed approach was demonstrated using an operating aquatic centre building in British Columbia, Canada. Three possible future scenario were considered. Proposed method was used to develop multi-period maintenance plans for future scenarios. Based on the analysis, Great Transitions scenario is expected to achieve the least financial risk. The proposed approach enable capital asset planning by complying with changing climate action targets in a stochastic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how 10 localities in the USA and England, recognised as leaders in clean energy and climate action, have used collaborative approaches to develop local climate change plans and energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy initiatives. It examines these planning and policy-making processes in the context of Margerum's [2008. A typology of collaboration efforts in environmental management.Environmental Management, 41 (4), 487–500] typology of “action”, “organizational”, and “policy-level” collaborations, as well as Gray's [1989.Collaborating: finding common ground for multiparty problems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass] classification of collaboration in the “problem-setting”, “direction-setting”, and “implementation” phases. We conducted interviews with local elected officials, municipal staff, energy professionals, and citizen volunteers in each community, supplemented with an analysis of their adopted energy, climate change, and land-use plans. We find that despite the different government structures and political contexts between the two countries, there was a surprising amount of commonality in how the case study localities used collaborative planning to develop local climate plans and clean energy initiatives. These processes were most often initiated by local elected officials and/or high-level staff members, and then carried out in collaboration with local third-sector organisations and other community stakeholders. In the USA, collaboration was strongest at the policy level and in the direction-setting phase, with the distinguishing feature that citizen advisory boards or stakeholder working groups often took a more active role in shaping local plans and policies. The English localities had some of those same types of collaborations, but were more likely to also employ action collaboration, in the implementation phase, in which third-sector organisations coordinated with the locality to directly provide clean energy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES the construction of a shale gas industry, including the proposed development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, in British Columbia, Canada, and focuses on state-capital interrelations surrounding its development. In addition to structural power, it traces the political reach and influence of gas and oil corporations over state bodies and the policy planning process in the province via political party donations and corporate lobbying. These complementary endeavours aimed at entrenching business as usual pose significant barriers to a rapid and socially just transition to a post- or low-carbon economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005, the Ontario government passed the Places to Grow Act and the Greenbelt Act, both major changes in land use policy designed to preserve greenspaces and combat urban sprawl in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Canada's largest conurbation. This article examines the actors, actor beliefs, and inter-actor alliances in the southern Ontario land use policy subsystem from the perspective of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). Specifically, this paper undertakes an empirical examination of the ACF's Belief Homophily Hypothesis, which holds that inter-actor alliances form on the basis of shared policy-relevant beliefs, creating advocacy coalitions. The analysis finds strong evidence of three advocacy coalitions in the policy subsystem-an agricultural coalition, an environmentalist coalition, and a developers' coalition-as predicted by the hypothesis. However, it also finds equally strong evidence of a cross-coalition coordination network of peak organizations, something not predicted by the Belief Homophily Hypothesis, and in need of explanation within the ACF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies notable trends in environmental policy surrounding oil and gas development in Canada’s leading producing provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan) in the period from 2009 to 2014: environmental policy streamlining in particular via the consolidation of environmental policymaking in development-oriented agencies, the continuation and raising of barriers to public involvement in decisions on oil and gas activity, and the avoidance of cumulative impact assessment. These trends signal policy convergence facilitating oil and gas development during a period of accelerating extraction and weakening federal environmental policy. More broadly, this confirms a pattern of conventional politics in energy-dependent subnational governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is autonomy "natural"? In Ecolawgic: The Logic of Ecosystems and the Rule of Law, I argue that a legal system of intrinsic neutrality is one over which no political office or branch of government has control and in which individuals have the autonomy to pursue their own interests. In "Autonomy in the Anthropocene," the preceding article in this issue, Jason MacLean challenges the thesis of Ecolawgic. MacLean argues that autonomy is not a feature of neutral legal systems but a product of cultural norms and regulation. He maintains that Ecolawgic's prescription provides neither optimal economic outcomes nor effective environmental protection. The purpose of this article is to reply to MacLean's critique and to argue that there is only one legitimate rule to govern legal relations between competent adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can there be autonomy in the Anthropocene? Libertarian environmental law scholar Bruce Pardy's Ecolawgic: The Logic of Ecosystems and the Rule of Law argues that contemporary environmental law violates the right to autonomy and runs afoul of the rule of law. Pardy proposes an alternative model of environmental law premised on the logic of ecosystems and free markets. Pardy's Ecolawgic suffers, however, from the very same conceptual infirmities that substantially undermine the real-world application of the free market paradigm on which Ecolawgic is largely based. Notwithstanding this critical flaw, Ecolawgic may be read as an aspirational model of environmental law and policy capable of disciplining the practice of environmental governance. The result--"autonomy in the Anthropocene"--gestures toward a pluralist and polycentric model of environmental regulation capable of enhancing our freedom to fashion a collective future in an existentially threatening epoch of our own making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal government's decision to impose a minimum national price on carbon emissions has the potential to make certain businesses in the country less competitive. Specifically, there are emissions-intensive and trade-exposed industries across Canada that compete against producers from other jurisdictions where governments do not put a price on carbon. For these industries, the obligation to pay a carbon price creates a competitive disadvantage. Specifically, these businesses will face higher costs and may encounter a loss of market share to international competitors from jurisdictions that lack the same emission-control measures. That not only hurts Canadian businesses, it could also negate any emissions reductions that carbon pricing in Canada achieves on a global scale. The federal government has opted to protect such emissions-intensive, tradeexposed businesses using subsidies called output-based allocations (OBAs). This is the same system that Alberta is introducing through its forthcoming Carbon Competiveness Regulation. It also shares certain similarities with cap-and-trade programs, such as those in Ontario and Quebec, which provide free allocations of emissions permits to certain firms. OBAs are a desirable complementary policy to a carbon price as they maintain the incentive for producers to invest in production methods and facilities that are less emissions intensive. So while producers are still, nevertheless, subsidized to offset the tax burden of the carbon price, they will, under an OBA system, see greater benefits the more they work to reduce their emissions intensity. Still, to function most effectively and most efficiently, an OBA policy should follow certain key principles. The most critical principle in the design of an OBA policy is ensuring that OBAs are allocated to facilities independent of their individual emission levels, and allocated equally (on a per unit basis) to facilities producing the same product. One of the major flaws with Alberta's current Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER) is that it does not follow this principle. Rather, subsidies under SGER are allocated based on a facility's historical emissions intensity. As a result, more generous subsidies are given to those facilities that are "dirtier" (that is, those with higher emissions intensities) than to "cleaner" facilities with lower emission intensities. Secondly, it is important for a well-designed OBA policy to have transparent costs. Including a clear accounting of OBAs in government finance reports will ensure the public is fully aware of the revenues being directed to the subsidies. Thirdly, OBAs for different facilities are best allocated using a classification system based on the product being produced, and not using more conventional industry-classification codes. Commonly used conventional industry classifications--for example, conventional oil and natural gas extraction--group together facilities that produce distinct products and compete in different markets. Consequently, this classification will not recognize the various levels of emissions intensity and trade exposure within an industry. This will result in some facilities receiving more OBAs than they should and others receiving less than they should. Finally, a well-designed OBA system should seek to be as administratively efficient as possible with minimal implementation costs imposed on government and businesses. It is important to recognize that the federal carbon price and OBAs are a new policy and that many large emitting facilities have been making investment decisions based on a previous regulatory environment. Therefore, a compromise approach may be to initially provide an output subsidy based on a facility's past emissions intensity (as Alberta has historically done under its SGER system) and then to transition gradually to the optimal OBA system over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consensus-based multi-stakeholder forms of environmental governance involving government, private and civil society actors, have become popular for advancing sustainability, but have been criticized for failing to achieve procedural justice objectives including recognition, participation and strengthening capabilities. Yet, how such models have functioned within non-governmental organizations dedicated to advancing sustainability has been underexplored. This paper assesses the procedural elements of consensus-based multi-stakeholder models used within Canadian biosphere reserves and model forests, two organizations working to address environment and sustainability issues. We draw on strategic documents and semi-structured interviews from five organizations in Canada to analyze their governance structures and processes against a framework for procedural justice. We find the organizational structure reproduces elitism and professionalism associated with stakeholder models more generally and reproduces challenges associated with recognition, participation and building capabilities found in other stakeholder approaches. Meeting broader sustainability challenges requires organizations to address procedural justice issues in addition to their traditional environmental concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings produce a large proportion of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and municipalities control a number of policy levers that can help to reduce those emissions. This article explains variation among Canadian cities regarding policies adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a particular focus on green building standards. By applying insights from the study of the politics of public policy to urban politics, this article finds that while electoral disincentives prevent most cities from enacting high impact green building policies, the success of some cities can be attributed to the influence of independent municipal environment departments. These departments facilitate policy learning by providing information and resources. The findings suggest that policy makers could improve the effectiveness of local climate change policy by creating municipal environment departments that have organizational capacity—funding, staff, and a cross-cutting mandate—and are insulated from interference from politicians and line departments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article argues that Harper's dramatic changes to federal environmental assessment give rise to a two-dimensional legacy in environmental law: first, a legacy of impoverished environmental decision-making that reflects a narrow, resource-oriented vision of the environment, and second, a legacy of undermining democratic and rule-of-law values in environmental law. The crux of this latter legacy is the argumentthat environmental assessment law provides an essential framework for publicly-justified decision-making in the Canadian environmental context. Indeed, as I suggest in this article, environmental assessment presently performs a quasi-constitutional role in Canadian environmental decision-making in the sense that it is constitutive of legality; that is, it provides the means by which the federal government fulfills its obligation to govern the environment in accordance with the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History is replete with evidence that innovation can improve our lives in some circumstances and devastate them in others. The irony of our times is that as our economies become more and more service driven, we are producing, transporting, and consuming more resource- and energy-intensive material goods than ever before in ever more innovative ways. And herein lies the motivation for policy. Innovation can increase welfare, but only within socio-political environments that can respond creatively to its dual nature. Innovating is usually very hard to do, but sustaining human welfare through innovation is always even harder. Thus, for policy makers, the point is not just to increase the incidence of innovation but also to use it to leverage positive social outcomes. I propose that deploying innovation as a strategy for mitigating threats to the environment will demand that we get to grips with it from this perspective. Democracy is a public conversation about innovation, and in the Canadian case, achieving sustainability goals will be impossible unless public institutions are rehabilitated as agents of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains the findings of the MC3 Project (Meeting the Climate Change Challenge). This project brought together over 100 researchers, practitioners, civil-society leaders, and policy-makers, led by researchers from Royal Roads University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia, with 12 major research partners from the public and private sectors, including the Union of British Columbia municipalities. Researchers conducted a detailed evaluation of 11 leading, yet different, municipalities across the province to identify the leading innovators and innovations on climate action. The case studies revealed the following key drivers of innovation, in order of prominence: the legislative and policy framework, supported by provincially led incentives and tools, access to partnership funding and intermediary support, and framing the issue as critically important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a detailed canvassing of the Canadian energy project approval process, beginning with an examination of the evolution of the project approval process in Canada and the current legal framework under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. The article then applies the framework to numerous major energy project approvals in Canada from 2010 to present day, and provides a comparative analysis to the project approval processes in both the United States and Australia in order to find possible solutions to the issues plaguing our current system. This article identifies and discusses current, practical issues and provides recommendations for how the project approval process in Canada can become more efficient for all those involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of recent regulatory and legislative developments of interest to energy lawyers. This includes the legal, political, and economic background to, and consequences of, new legislation and regulatory regimes. This also includes discussions of recent and ongoing judicial and regulatory decisions involving energy law. Topics discussed include market access, environmental and climate change regulation, Aboriginal consultation, and utilities regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural resource management increasingly strives for meaningful public participation as a means to address the complexity, uncertainty, and conflict inherent in planning and decision making. When there are multiple stakeholders, place-based inquiry shows considerable promise as a vehicle for such participation. The Common Ground Land (CGL), important heritage lands in Kenora, Ontario, provides an opportunity to consider the relationship between place-based inquiry and participation. The CGL is the subject of an emerging system of governance initiated by a multistakeholder partnership. Semistructured interviews and modified focus groups were used to promote place-based conversations regarding the CGL. Our inquiry reveals grounded themes related to connections, perspectives, and visions, including subthemes such as “respect,” “spiritual activities,” “community,” and “fear of disconnection.” Our results illustrate that place-based inquiry has potential to work as a vehicle for meaningful participation, and in this case created a supportive avenue for participation in future CGL planning and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have proven effective at raising consumer awareness, expanding waste collection infrastructure, and shifting costs of end-of-life (EOL) management from municipalities to stewardship organizations. Yet, such policies have been less successful in advancing waste management programs that ensure a net environmental benefit. This article analyzes how EPR policies for single-use batteries in the European Union (EU), Canada, and the United States address the environmental costs and benefits of EOL management. Considering these EPR policies is instructive, because single-use batteries have high collection costs and are of relatively low economic value for waste processors. Without deliberate planning, the environmental burdens of collecting and recycling such batteries may exceed the benefits. This article considers how EPR policies for single-use batteries integrate performance requirements such as collection rates, recycling efficiencies, and best available techniques. It argues that for such policies to be effective, they need to be extended to address waste collection practices, the life cycle consequences of EOL management, and the quality of recovered materials. Such strategies are relevant to EPR policies for other products with marginal secondary value, including some textiles, plastics, and other types of electronic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, interest has grown in collaboration in public policy. Responding to the complex issues now playing out in cities, scholars are focusing on localized governance relations that blur boundaries between public, private, and community sectors. This article introduces discursive localism as a framework to understand better collaborative urban governance. It argues that ideas play a pivotal role in motivating collective action, channeling policy resources, and shaping governance relations. Although recent urban-focused accounts of collective action suggest a role for ideas, systematic attention to their normative-philosophical and cognitive-programmatic dimensions reveals how different policy discourses frame incentives and institutions for collaboration. Applying discursive localism to Toronto, Canada, the article describes change processes across three complex policy fields. Governance arrangements are argued to flow from the operative policy discourses, especially whether their normative and cognitive dimensions are integrated, dissociated, or fragmented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change’s causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sustainability is a priority for cities, challenging public administrators to coordinate action on environmental policy, economic development and social policy. Multilevel governance is now a popular theoretical framework but research must illuminate the constraints on local administrators. This case study reviews efforts of public administrators in the City of Ottawa and Canada's national capital region to implement sustainability policies with collaborative governance, but new governance relationships are constrained by traditional intergovernmental relations. Case study research illuminates the challenges of multilevel governance for local governments and provides insights on the pursuit of sustainability with environmental programs, land use, and urban and development by Crown corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is substantial evidence that the global governance of climate change must pass through cities. While formal networks offer cities a means of generating effects that extend beyond their own borders, it remains unclear as to whether such networks can address collective action barriers and implementation gaps. City-networks, after all, are limited in their efforts to govern and must rely on information, service provision, and soft forms of coercion if they are to steer their members past these considerable challenges. This article contributes to extant efforts to assess their ability to do so by addressing two gaps in the literature. First, the article focuses on the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP), a city-network that has received little attention to date. Second, through analysis of two Canadian cities (Toronto and Winnipeg), the article provides an empirical illustration of the limitations of network authority and influence, and offers some thoughts on what this means for networked urban climate governance in Canada and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the implications of the Liberal Party majority in 2015 for Canadian climate policy. Topics covered include the failure of previous Canadian governments to address climate, factors that may help Canada develop a system of managing climate policy that is systematic and wide-ranging, and the impact of the petroleum industry on the development of climate policy.

Pivoting on the process of reserve replacement undertaken by key oil transnationals in Canada as a spatial fix for capital, the article considers how individual firms employ formal review processes to project their strategic interests. The proponent firm shapes, through its own participation, the regulatory terrain on which competitors will subsequently operate. In Alberta's tar sands, the oil industry's reserve replacement process serves as a spatial–temporal fix for capital, and the review process and tribunal acts as a complementary socio-ecological fix – restricting social/affective claims, including First Nations resistance, to an official tribunal setting. In seeking formal approval to replace declining oil and gas reserves with unconventionals, proponent firms claim investor security, while social movement opponents emphasize risk and insecurity arising from carbon-intensive, frontier extraction. In the case of the contested Shell Jackpine Mine Expansion Joint Review Panel, as in other environmental assessment processes in Alberta, the proponent firm and state representatives employ the oxymoronic term ‘resource sterilization’ to describe ecological protection. ‘Resource sterilization’ offers a discursive representation of how capital's spatio-temporal fix in unconventionals is facilitated through the terms of the formal review process, in which social claims are muted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory analysis opens up new avenues for research in the area of media analysis and environmental justice by combining quantitative content analysis with qualitative discourse analysis of 15 Canadian mainstream newspapers to explore how Canadian print news media act not only as a filter but also as a constructor or silencer of environmental justice discourses. Disjunctures occur between what is covered by the Canadian news media and what local studies of place and injustice suggest are the on-the-ground realities. In particular, disadvantaged communities who have experienced or are experiencing significant environmental exposures are consistently underrepresented in key mainstream Canadian news media coverage. Consequences of this underrepresentation suggest indifference and may serve to perpetuate existing cases of environmental inequity. We suggest this muting happens not only through lack of reporting but also through discourse in existing reporting. This exploratory study suggests the need for ongoing research to examine: 1) how pervasive these phenomena are in various Canadian news media outlets, 2) how they manifest and with what impacts at the local scale in particular places, and 3) the overall impact of environmental justice as a discourse of resistance on the ground versus in the minds of academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the Drive Electric Program enacted by the Quebec government in 2012. This program provides direct rebates to all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles according to electric battery capacity. After describing the program, we identify and monetize its main costs and benefits. The costs are primarily related to the government expenses associated with the rebate itself, while the benefits include savings on gasoline purchases and oil changes, as well as reductions in the emissions of different pollutants. Because these emissions have no market price, valuing them reliably presents a challenge. For this purpose, we used values from previous relevant studies. We conduct our CBA for the year 2012 and obtain a net present value of $173,331, with an internal rate of return of 6.54 percent. Our sensitivity analysis shows our conclusion to be fairly robust to various changes in the assumptions and parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance to the implementation of greenhouse gas pricing policies comes in part from fears about the concentrated impacts on certain industries, certain regions, and on less affluent households. These distributional concerns are valid and, to be fair, policy can accommodate some transitional measures to soften the impact of sudden policy changes. However, the carbon pricing policy recently instituted in Quebec, in partnership with California under the Western Climate Initiative, is relatively modest in price targets, gradual in implementation, and has the capacity to spend revenues on transitional and impact-mediating programs for the labour market and households. We analyze the expected short-run impacts of the policy, focusing on equity in two domains: the household income distribution and labour in different industrial sectors. Our analysis focuses on the short-term effects, before capital is significantly reallocated, and before most substitution toward lower-carbon or imported goods has happened. For reasonable prices and pass-through levels, and modelling direct and indirect emissions, we bracket these impacts, finding modest effects in all cases. Generous permit handouts to incumbents are likely to result in some windfall profits. Quebec would benefit from greater transparency in the intended allocation of the Green Fund revenues. Overall, the policy appears tuned to provide a balance of price predictability, steady decarbonisation, and manageable transition costs, but could likely be more aggressive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over two decades, municipal climate progress has been inventoried and analysed using a common reporting framework. While useful for highlighting the extent of municipal engagement in greenhouse gas mitigation efforts, we know little about how comprehensive this reporting framework is. Are municipal governments engaging in mitigation activities outside this framework? And what about climate adaptation activity for which no long-standing milestone reporting framework has existed? Based on results from a national survey of municipal governments in Canada, the paper reveals that municipal governments are engaged in many climate activities and processes that common inventories and reporting systems do not capture. The paper argues that these ‘in between activities’ – the not-yet counted climate actions that take place between and outside of milestone initiation and completion – have practical importance for future climate action and theoretical importance by complementing growing evidence about the nature of municipal climate activities and climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian scholars know by heart the exhortation to think globally and act locally. Fewer, however, are familiar with the expansion of scientific knowledge and state policy that made it possible to think of the world as a global system and act on those beliefs. This article explores this interplay of scientific expertise, state power, and environmental politics by analyzing the Science Council of Canada (scc)'s "conserver society" of the 1970s. My research reveals how the scc, a Crown corporation, became a key player in Canadian environmentalism when it used the oil crisis and the Trudeau government's rationalizing reforms as an excuse to pioneer alternative development and to help Canadians grapple with the challenge of long-term sustainability. The article asserts that state experts played a central role in the construction of early forms of sustainability. Their efforts also highlight the multifaceted character of sustainable development as it promised to catalyze national growth, social change, and scientific achievement even as it protected Canadians' ecological future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers science news briefs as of February 16, 2018. Topics include the development of immature human egg cells in the laboratory reported online in the "Molecular Human Reproduction" journal, the dismissal of astrophysicist Christian Ott before his position start at the University of Turku's Tuorla Observatory in Finland amid protest, and a revised process for environmental impact assessment fo development projects released by the Canadian government.

The article reports on the omission of the funding for large-scale research networks in the field of climate change in the 2017 federal budget of Canada's government. Focus is given to the expiration of the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research program and its impact on the facilities in the Arctic, government-academia research collaborations, and recruitment into the field. The government's plan to focus on mitigation by investing in green infrastructure is discussed.