The Inside Scoop: What's been happening at Environmental Defence?
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The Inside Scoop:
What’s been happening at
Environmental Defence? February 2021
2020 was a big year for the environment, partially due to COVID-19 but also because of a growing
awareness of the need for meaningful change. The pandemic and its lockdowns caused skies to
clear, rivers to run cleaner, and wildlife to return. And while temporary, these dramatic changes
demonstrate that natural systems are resilient and can recover quickly if we act to reduce pollution.
COVID was also a wake-up call for the need to better protect our environment and for a rapid
transition to an economic and energy system that will address climate change and biodiversity loss.
And, there is growing evidence that it is possible. Here’s an inside scoop on what we’ve been
working on in the last year to address both the threats and opportunities for our environment –
none of which could be possible without your support – thank you! What we learned in 2020 is
informing our work for 2021 which is shaping up to be an exciting year for better protecting our
environment, so stay tuned.
Ending Plastic Pollution
Program Goal: Banning plastics that cannot
be recycled or re-used and ensuring that
plastic producers pay for a system that ensures
plastic does not become waste in our
environment.
At the start of 2020, we launched our Plastic
Wall of Shame — an online initiative to call out
companies for using greenwashing tactics (or
simply not trying at all) to avoid reducing
plastic waste. Some companies featured on the
wall include Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks.
Our report No Time to Waste: Six Ways that Canada Can Progress to Zero Plastic Waste by 2025
provided a comprehensive roadmap for the government on how to tackle plastic pollution in
Canada. We were pleased that despite heavy lobbying from the chemical industry, the voices of
our supporters were heard and the federal government reaffirmed its commitment to tackling
plastic pollution and followed our recommendations to ban unnecessary and non-recyclable single-
use plastics. This is an important first step but there is still much work to be done including getting
plastics added to the toxic list in CEPA and making producers responsible for their plastic waste.
In the fall, the Ontario government released a draft of its Blue Box regulations – but these
proposed regulations still fall short of what’s needed. The good news is that the proposed
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE CANADA Update: February 2021 1
regulations would make companies operate and pay for the Blue Box program. However, the advised recycling targets for producers for all plastics are too low at 40% to 60%, which means 40% to 60% will still end up in the environment. The province can and should do better when it comes to single-use plastic and packaging waste and we're working to make sure they do. Climate & Clean Economy Program Goal: Ensure Canada does its fair share to reduce climate change causing carbon emissions and do this in a way that creates a cleaner and more just economic and energy system for Canadians. This past year, climate change has continued to capture the world’s attention as extreme global weather events caused dislocation and human tragedy. Since signing the Kyoto climate agreement decades ago, Canada has consistently missed meeting its national emissions reduction targets. So, building on our successful efforts to put the environment at the top of the agenda during the federal election, we have been advocating for a Green and Just Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, including prioritizing sustainability in federal financial aid packages. Not surprisingly, the oil industry is undeterred in their plans for expansion and have shown very little commitment to a meaningful climate plan. We leaked a secret memo from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to the federal government which revealed the oil industry’s demands for exemptions from environmental laws, regulatory rollbacks, and increased secrecy. We subsequently launched an effort to take on the oil lobby by demanding Shell Canada leave CAPP - because of CAPP’s efforts to undermine Canadian climate action. In the last year we also celebrated some huge victories. In February 2020, the Reject Teck campaign rejoiced when plans for the Teck Frontier Mine, the largest tar sands mine ever proposed, were cancelled. And, we celebrated when the federal governments decided to designate the expansion of Coalspur’s Vista Coal Mine in Alberta for a federal environmental assessment – a positive move towards having the entire project rejected. Meanwhile, in Ontario, our Failure To Launch report pointed out the shortcomings of the province’s Environment Plan — which Ontario’s Auditor General confirmed — and that, after a year, the province has made nearly no progress on implementing its own plan. Our collaborative efforts against a new Enbridge natural gas pipeline near Hamilton, resulted in Enbridge pausing its application. And our report CLEARING THE AIR: How Electric Vehicles and Cleaner Trucks Can Help Reduce Pollution, Improve Health, and Save Lives in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area was featured on the federal government’s Clean Air Day website. ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE CANADA Update: February 2021 2
Ontario Yours to Protect
Program Goal: Stop rampant urban sprawl that would pave over farms, forest and wetlands, and
work with communities to fight back against the Ontario government’s elimination of
environmental protections.
We launched our Ontario Yours to Protect campaign last year just before the COVID-19 pandemic
impacted every aspect of our lives. Its impacts have further inspired a need for change and an
opportunity to rethink our relationship to urban design, land use, urban growth, and mobility.
That’s why we joined the 2020 Declaration for Resilience in Canadian Cities. And, with our
help, CBC News exposed secret negations between a developer and the Ontario government to
remove some land from the protected Greenbelt. Thanks to the exposure, the land remains in the
Greenbelt.
In the fall of 2020, the Ontario government
launched an all-out attack on Ontario’s
protected forests and wetlands by making
major changes to the Conservation
Authorities Act. The changes have taken
away control over the protection of our
precious wetlands, forests, wildlife habitat
and natural spaces from Conservation
Authorities. These changes give huge new
powers to developers to push through
destructive projects by using Ministerial
Zoning Orders (MZO’s) which allow them to
ignore proper planning and environmental protection. Already we’ve seen Lower Duffins Creek
Wetland, wetlands in Vaughan, and more recently even downtown Toronto affected by the Ontario
government using MZOs to trample over environmental protections, local government and
democratic due process. Thousands of Ontarians have sent in letters, called their MPPs and
marched in the streets voicing their concern and this wave of opposition is getting noticed.
In addition, the Ontario government is now trying to bring two massive 400 series highway
projects back from the dead in the GTA – and, they plan to exempt both projects from proper
environmental approvals jeopardizing farmlands, forests, species at risk, water and air quality, a
safe climate and people’s homes. Environmental Defence has and will continue to engage the
public and local community groups to stop Highway 413 and other egregious proposed
developments. Your voice matters and collectively we can stop these developments.
Kicking our Toxic Chemicals
Program Goal: Protect Canadians’ environment and health from the impacts of toxic chemicals in
our food, consumer goods and in the water we drink and air we breathe.
Many of the toxic chemicals we are exposed to everyday are linked to serious illnesses, like cancer
and asthma, and harm our environment. That’s why we’ve been working with the government and
industry to put stronger rules in place to reduce our exposure. While the Federal government has
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE CANADA Update: February 2021 3
committed to reform the country’s cornerstone toxics and pollution prevention law, the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), we will need to continue our work to ensure that they follow
through on their promise. Due to our legal efforts with Ecojustice, Volkswagen was charged $196.5
million in January for importing nearly 128,000 cheating diesel vehicles that violated Canadian
emission rules - this was the largest environmental fine in Canada.
Our efforts to pressure retailers to phase
out PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances) and BPA and BPS is working!
Freshii, Home Depot, and Lowe’s committed
to phasing out PFAS chemicals from their
salad bowls and carpets, respectively – and
just last month, McDonalds announced
phasing out all PFAS from their food
packaging by 2025 globally, a move we
hope will pave the way for other large fast
food chains. In January 2020, Costco
Canada became the first Canadian-based grocery retailer to phase out BPA and BPS receipt paper.
And just this month, Loblaws (including No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart) joined Costco Canada
and committed to phasing out receipt paper containing BPA and BPS by the end of 2021. Another
huge move we hope other leading grocery giants across Canada will follow.
Safeguarding Canada’s Freshwater
Program Goal: Protecting Canada’s
freshwater ecosystems with a focus on the
Great Lakes.
Canada is home to some of the world’s
largest freshwater lakes. And every day we
work hard to protect them from pollution. For
the past several years, we have called for the
Ontario government to have new rules for
water bottling in the province — rules that
put people before profits. Thousands of people asked the province to extend its moratorium on
new or expanded bottling permits and we won! Since then, the Ontario government has released
its new draft regulations for water bottlers, and they look promising.
Meanwhile, we have continued our work to protect Lake Erie from massive, and sometimes toxic,
algae blooms. We called the federal and Ontario governments out for being behind on
implementing their plan to help restore the lake. And, we engaged with people near the lake and
on social media on this issue. We also collaborated with photographer Colin Boyd Shafer on a
documentary photography project North of Long Tail, that explored people’s deep intrinsic
connections to Lake Erie.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE CANADA Update: February 2021 4
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