Peter Kent certainly isn’t the first minister in the Harper cabinet to bury an inconvenient report for months, only to finally release it when he figures it’ll do the least damage. But given his long career as a broadcast journalist, he’s probably the one who ought to have the best
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: I guess one man’s core service is another man’s redundancy
When reports about job cuts at Environment Canada surfaced last year, we were assured by Environment Minister Peter Kent that there would be no consequences for “core services.” We heard the usual talking points about efficiency and streamlining and eliminating duplication and we were told that any vital work would
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Streamline? Or gut like a fish?
The Globe and Mail‘s headline on yesterday evening’s story was “Ottawa wants to streamline environmental reviews”. After some discussion about eliminating inefficiencies and duplication, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver summed things up for us: We respect the integrity of the regulatory process but we do need to get these projects
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Yesterday in Gutter Politics
This time it’s Peter Kent and Aaron Wherry has the details. Given his long career in journalism I would have thought that more than most Conservatives, Kent would be aware of the meaning of the words he uses and would use them a bit more judiciously. Obviously I’d be wrong.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Why am I not surprised?
May 19, 2011: A majority Conservative government will move ahead with regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada …, says Environment Minister Peter Kent. … "The oilsands … will be in the next set of regulations that will come down after the coal-fired electricity generating sector," Kent said. "We’ll be addressing that later this year." Sept. 19, 2011 Ottawa will not bring out new rules for greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands this year, contrary to what Environment Minister Peter Kent said in May. Mr. Kent said in an interview that the government is "in the early consultation stage" with the oil sector and "won’t have regulations immediately." He said the process was slowed down by last spring’s election and budget negotiations. Stephen Harper has been prime minister for five years. Peter Kent has been Environment minister since January. I wonder how long the "early consultation stage" takes. Incidentally, the minister’s original comments were made after last spring’s election….
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Mostly competent government
The Harper Government™ has been doing such an awesome job of protecting the endangered woodland caribou in northeastern Alberta that a Federal Court has decided to step in and order the Environment Minister to actually do his job. [Justice Peter Crampton] said Jim Prentice, the former federal environment minister, never explained why he decided against an emergency order that would protect caribou habitat, although all available science pointed to the need for one. "Notwithstanding the substantial scientific and other evidence that was discussed … the minister concluded that there are no imminent threats to the national recovery of boreal caribou," Crampton wrote. "This conclusion essentially came ‘out of the ‘blue.’ … Accordingly, the decision cannot stand." The court has instructed the current minister, Peter Kent, to "revisit" that decision not to issue an emergency order. Kent has also been told to produce a recovery plan for the declining caribou herds by Sept. 1. It seems our mostly competent Conservatives have already missed a legal deadline for said plan — by four years. And it’s not as if no one knew there was a problem. Some scientists have predicted caribou will be gone within 30 years. Biologists have been documenting the…
Continue readingOur "world class" tarsands PR monitoring plan
This week saw our federal, provincial and territorial energy ministers, minus Ontario, trot out a joint communique describing the tarsands as "sustainable and responsible", even as the Cons were simultaneously slashing the federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency budget by 43% and its staff by…
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