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2005 September Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

September 2005 Report—The Commissioner's Perspective

Exhibit 4—Audits of the government's response to environmental petitions

Any Canadian resident—individual, organization, business, or municipality—may submit an environmental petition to the Auditor General of Canada and receive a response from the federal minister or ministers responsible for that environmental issue. Petitions have resulted in commitments by ministers and action by departments on environmental issues.

As part of our monitoring role, we audit selected federal departmental responses to past petitions and audit them to determine if ministers and departments have taken action on commitments made to Canadians in those responses. This year we found that progress to address commitments made to petitioners has been slow.

• Since 2002, we have received three petitions from Canadians who are concerned about the impact of large-scale hog farming on their communities and on their water quality. Despite the growth and intensification of the industry, our audit shows that Environment Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada do not know if their programs and activities are succeeding in reducing the impacts of hog farming on the environment.
• In another audit, we found that Natural Resources Canada has yet to amend the Nuclear Liability Act—a commitment the minister made in response to a petition. The Act is 30 years old, and the current insurance requirements for nuclear operations are significantly lower than those imposed in 12 other major industrial countries.
• The Species at Risk Act was introduced in 2002 to protect and recover species at risk. In response to a petition, the Minister of the Environment committed to establishing guidelines to assist the government in deciding which species to protect by designating them to be at risk. Environment Canada has indicated that these guidelines will not be in place until 2006. In the meantime, decisions are being made without the benefit of guidelines intended to make the process consistent and transparent.