Shouldn't Protect Environment at Expense of Business: Federal Labour Minister
Posted on: Sunday, 15 October 2006, 21:00 CDT
By ISABELLE RODRIGUE
OTTAWA (CP) - Protecting the environment is important, but it shouldn't come at the cost of Canadian businesses, says federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn.
The Conservative government is expected this week to table clean-air legislation that would avoid setting fixed targets for businesses to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions.
Opposition parties and environmentalists are critical of such initiatives, saying they do little to safeguard the environment. But Blackburn insists the government is taking a balanced approach.
"You have to be pro-environment, but it's also necessary to go ahead in a flexible, measured manner so that businesses don't start an uproar," Blackburn told The Canadian Press.
The minister, who is from Quebec, cited the current crisis in his home province's forestry industry as an example of excessive conservation.
Last week alone, eight Quebec sawmills closed, cutting more than 1,600 jobs.
Blackburn said the industry is suffering from the effects of a 2004 decision by the Quebec government to reduce the size of logging areas, made following a campaign led by Quebec singer Richard Desjardins.
"Look what happens when you go too far on environmental questions," Blackburn said. "I don't know if tomorrow morning there's going to be a singer to help the unemployed."
Quebec Premier Jean Charest, however, rejected Blackburn's suggestion that provincial legislation is to blame for the crisis.
Likening the problem to the effects of overfishing, Charest said he won't open Quebec's forests to more logging.
"We will respect the right of the next generations to have access to a healthy forest and which can provide Quebec economic prosperity," Charest said Sunday.
Forestry industry groups in Quebec blame the crisis on several factors, including a market slowdown, exchange rates and the lingering effects of the softwood lumber dispute.
Industry groups also lobbied against the decision to reduce the size of Quebec's logging areas.
Blackburn said Ottawa's environmental legislation, to be tabled Tuesday, "is a step in the right direction" because it still allows businesses to flourish.
Source: Canadian Press
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