A University of Saskatchewan Professor says although the Harper government’s Bill C-45 contains a number of environmental changes, it is unlikely these changes will result in more dams on Canadian lakes and rivers anytime soon.
Bob Patrick says even with the Conservative government’s changes to the navigable waters act and removal of lakes and rivers from the “protected” list, there are still lots of rules out there governing Canada’s waterways.
Patrick says any company wanting to build a dam would still have to wade through the environmental protection act, among other pieces of legislation.
However Patrick does say the Harper government’s recent amendments to environmental legislation will have significant impact in a larger sense.
“The levels of protection in place – environmental protection act and other environmental based legislation have also been reduced or limited in their scope in recent years under the Conservatives so what we have seen is a reduction or relaxation of environmental protection broadly.”
He adds the navigable waters protection act was historically designed to allow people and goods to move freely across the country.