OTTAWA,
ON - June 2, 2008 - Canada's Environment
Minister, John Baird, today launched this
year's Canadian Environment Week (June 1-7)
and World Environment Day (June 5) by challenging
Canadians to do more to protect and preserve
Canada's environment.
"As Canada's Environment
Minister, I share Canadians' passion for
protecting our environment," said Minister
Baird. "Canadians want to see their
Government take a leadership role but they
also want to do their part to protect the
environment. That is what Canadian Environment
Week is all about. It is an opportunity
to focus on the impact Canadians can make
towards a cleaner environment, healthier
communities and a better quality of life
for all."
In the last year alone,
the Government has taken serious action
to protect vast wilderness lands in our
North, including an expansion of Nahanni
National Park Reserve, the protection of
the South Nahanni River headlands, and major
land withdrawals around the East Arm of
Great Slave Lake and the Ramparts River
and Wetlands.
The Government is also
moving full steam ahead with its Turning
the Cornerplan to reduce greenhouse gases
and air pollution, the toughest plan in
Canadian history. Our plan will reduce greenhouse
gases an absolute 20 per cent by 2020.
"Our Government
believes strongly in ensuring a healthy
and sustainable environment for current
and future generations," added Minister
Baird. "That's why our environmental
agenda is focused on conservation of our
parks, protection of our wildlife, fighting
climate change, and protecting and ensuring
clean water for all of us."
The Government of Canada's
commitment to Canada's environment is backed
up with over $9 billion in environmental
investments across the country. This includes
major investments to protect Species at
Risk across the country, and almost $100
million to help clean up environmental hot
spots in the Great Lakes, as well as targeted
action in places like Lake Simcoe and Lake
Winnipeg, which are suffering from extensive
blue-green algae.
"By working together
to protect our environment, we can all make
a difference," said Minister Baird.
"By making even small changes to our
lifestyles we can all help not just in our
local communities or even across the country,
but for our world as well."
For more information
on activities taking place in your community
this week, visit the Community Calendar
available on Environment Canada's website
www.ec.gc.ca.
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
+ More
Canada Celebrates Clean
Air Day
OTTAWA, ON -- June 4,
2008 -- Canada's Environment and Health
Ministers, John Baird and Tony Clement today
delivered a Clean Air Day message by encouraging
Canadians to do their part for Canada's
environment, and highlighting the measures
being taken by the Government of Canada.
"The Government
of Canada is serious about cleaning up the
air we breathe and improving the health
of our environment," said Minister
Baird. "We have shown responsible leadership
with ourTurning the Corner Plan that will
cut industrial air pollution by up to 50%
by 2015. As we take the time to celebrate
Clean Air Day I urge Canadians to reflect
on what they can do to make a difference
in the quality of the air that we breathe
and the health of our environment."
"Canadians expect
leadership from their Government on clean
air, and we are taking action," said
Minister Clement. In the last two years
we've invested in the world's first Air
Quality Health Index, expanded Canada's
Air Quality Forecast Program and partnered
with the Canadian Lung Association to develop
a national action plan to prevent and manage
respiratory diseases in Canada."
The Government has taken
a leadership role to improve air quality
with examples like its Turning the Corner
Plan,and investing an additional $30 million
in Canada's Air Quality Health Index pilot
program. The Air Quality Health Index is
the first of its kind in the world and gives
Canadians the tools they need to better
understand the quality of the air they breathe
and information on what they can do to reduce
its harmful impacts to their health.
Along with these actions
the Government is also undertaking measures
like the Tax Credit for Public Transit Passes,
proposing limits on smog-producing chemicals
in everyday products such as paints, varnishes
and adhesives, and many ecoEnergy and ecoTranport
programs to help Canadians make a difference.
"Governments can't
do it alone, and that's why on Clean Air
Day, we are encouraging Canadians to make
a real difference," concluded Ministers
Baird and Clement. "By changing to
how we commute to work, heat and cool our
homes we can all take action to help improve
the air we breathe."
For more information
on activities taking place in your community
this week, visit the Community Calendar
available on Environment Canada's website
www.ec.gc.ca.
For more information
on the Government's initiatives to tackle
climate change and air pollution, please
visit www.ecoaction.gc.ca.
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
+ More
Government of Canada
and Clean Air Join Forces to get Gas-Guzzlers
Off the Road
New incentives for Canadians who do their
part.
OTTAWA, ON -- June 4,
2008 -- Canada 's Environment Minister,
John Baird, today was joined by the Clean
Air Foundation to launch a National Vehicle
Scrappage Program, which will offer incentives
to people who retire their 1995 or older
model vehicles.
This program will be
fully operating by January 2009, and will
encourage people to scrap their gas-guzzling
vehicles and to turn to environmentally-friendly
transportation. The incentives include:
Public transit passes;
Bicycles;
a rebate on the purchase of a new car;
Membership in a car-sharing program; or
$300 cash.
"We know Canadians want to do their
part to help clean up the air we breathe
and our Government shares their desire,"
said Minister Baird. "That's why we
are launching a national program to get
Canadian's smog-causing gas-guzzlers off
the road. This investment, combined with
our Turning the Corner plan to cut air pollution
from industry by up to 50 per cent, is what
Canadians want and what we are delivering."
The Government is providing
$92 million over four years to implement
the program, which will be delivered by
the Clean Air Foundation - a national not-for-profit
organization that runs the award-winning
Car Heaven program.
"We are thrilled
to be leading this program," said Ersilia
Serafini, Executive Director of the Clean
Air Foundation. "Car Heaven is a leading
program in Canada and we look forward to
working with additional local programs to
build on their experience and to enhance
this network nationally even more."
Of the 18 million cars
and trucks on Canada's roads, about five
million were manufactured before 1996 (which
is when new environmentally conscious standards
were introduced). These pre-1996 models
produce about 19 times more air pollutants
than newer cars and trucks.
Until the program is
fully up and running in January 2009, the
Government of Canada is providing $3.4 million
funding to local vehicle scrappage programs
across the country.
This will encourage
Canadians to take action now byrewarding
them with incentives for retiring their
old vehicles that will be part of the national
program. These local scrappage programs
will have an opportunity to become part
of the Clean Air Foundation's network for
the delivery of the new national program
in 2009.
As part of the Government's
commitment to high environmental standards,
the program will also include a National
Car Recycling Code of Practice. This tough
code, currently being developed with the
Automotive Recyclers of Canadawill raise
the standard of environmental care for vehicle
recycling and apply to all participating
recyclers.
The Automotive Recyclers
of Canada (ARC) and its provincial associations
have partnered with the Clean Air Foundation
over the years to help deliver vehicle scrappage
programs. "We look forward to helping
take this to a national scale through our
network of local auto dismantlers and recyclers,"
said Steve Fletcher, Managing Director of
ARC. "Ensuring that the vehicles are
properly and permanently retired is the
expertise we bring to the national program."
This initiative is part
of the Government's Turning the Corner action
plan, which includes a commitment to reduce
emissions from transportation sources and
cut smog-forming industrial air pollution
in half by 2015.
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
