How Canada became an environmental outlier
OpEd by Tom Mulcair, former the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (2012-2017).
Fifty years ago, Canada became a major, credible player in the world of environmental protection with the creation of our first department of the environment by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. That move was accompanied by a progressive vision that was critical of the unbridled growth which showed no regard to the consequences for life on our planet.
Since then, we have witnessed what Christopher Orr, McGill researcher and bioresource engineering Ph.D. student, calls a “troubling environmental backslide” that has seen Canada go from leader to laggard.
[Christopher Orr is a PhD candidate in Natural Resource Sciences, co-supervised by Professors Jim Fyles and Peter Brown. Learn more about Chris on his website]