Billions of dollars in government spending on green programs since 2006 have had little quantifiable effect in improving Canada's air and water, according to a new report from the environment commissioner.
Scott Vaughan, Canada's environmental watchdog, also found that tracking the efficacy of the federal government's most important policies to slash greenhouse gasses is nearly impossible.
"Canadians have high expectations that the government will take action to tackle environmental degradation," Vaughan wrote in his report, released on Thursday. "The government needs to know what works, what doesn't, and why."
In 2006, the Tories created a public transit tax credit in the hopes that an increasing number of Canadians would take the bus or subway to work. But the government doesn't have the ability to measure the policy's "negligible" effects, said Vaughan.
So far, the tax credit has cost $635 million over three years. Initially, the tax credit was to cut 220,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. But that figure was later reduced to 30,000 tonnes.
"With regard to other air emissions, Environment Canada could not provide any analysis to support the assertion that the tax credit would result in measurable impacts," wrote Vaughan.
The government also claimed that a $1.5-billion trust fund for the provinces would help cut 80-megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012. However, Vaughan said that those estimates may have been flawed.
Plus, the provinces aren't forced to report back to Ottawa on how the money is being spent, meaning little accountability in achieving the stated goals.
"Due to the nature of federal-provincial trust funds, it will be difficult for the government to support its claim that the $1.5 billion it is spending on the Clean Air and Climate Change Trust Fund will actually achieve the target it has set for lowering greenhouse gas emissions," Vaughan wrote.
The trust fund was created by the Tories in 2007 and was unveiled as part of the Turning the Corner initiative to reduce greenhouse gases.
But Vaughan wrote those figures were based on questionable numbers and lax analysis from Environment Canada.
"The little analysis it did undertake is based on flawed assumptions -- for example, that all provinces and territories face identical opportunities, challenges and economic conditions for achieving emission reductions."
"Since the basis for the estimate is flawed, we cannot determine what a reasonable range of expected results should have been."
Vaughan told CTV's Power Play on Thursday afternoon that Environment Canada has been responsive to the recommendations tabled in the report.
"These are things that the department is taking seriously, and we're looking forward to them adjusting," he said in an interview with host Tom Clark.
Vaughan became environment commissioner after his predecessor, Johanne Gelinas, was fired after raising concerns she was taking on too great of an advocacy role.
Environment Minister responds
Conservative Environment Minister Jim Prentice said that the $1.5 billion was allocated to the provinces so they could take action themselves. For instance, Prentice said that the money sent to Ontario is meant to help the province help replace coal with nuclear power by 2014.
"Certainly, we will be going to the provinces, verifying how the dollars were spent, and (checking) the environmental achievements," he said.
Responding to questions surrounding the tax credit for public transport, Prentice said there are "points of disagreement" between the government and certain portions of the auditor's report.
"There were two objectives with the transit pass, one of them was to help hard working Canadians who ride the bus ... so on that basis it was an important thing to do," Prentice told Power Play.
He added that encouraging Canadians to take the bus will help alleviate gridlock and minimize pollution from vehicles.
The report also slammed Environment Canada for failing to clamp down or track rules governing carcinogenic chemicals like benzene, which are released at gas stations across the country.
But Prentice stressed that the report's findings about dangerous chemicals is important and that his ministry will strive to "get to the bottom of this."
Tories sidestepped accountability, say Grits
Meanwhile, Liberal environment critic David McGuinty attacked the government for being reckless with the environment spending.
McGuinty added that the Tories have repeatedly sidestepped accountability questions about their green policies.
"We knew this was coming, we've been asking these questions now for 3 ½ years of the government and we just can't get answers," McGuinty told CTV's Power Play Thursday afternoon.
"That is a really serious matter. We're talking about a billion and a half dollars here," said McGuinty.
"The federal government ought to be able to tell the tax payers of Canada, in the House of Commons, what they're doing with a billion and a half of their tax dollars."
