Mayor Harris: Canada’s Environmental Record - Preeceville's Main Street with the Mayor Garth Harris for May 7th, 2020 8:35 am

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Preeceville's Main Street with the Mayor Garth Harris for May 7th, 2020 8:35 am

With GX94's Craig Wallebeck > see him @ http://www.gx94radio.com/craig-Wallebeck

This week we focus on: Canada’s Environmental Record

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/canadas-environmental-record-provides-some-good-news-during-troubling-times

Canada’s environmental record provides some good news during troubling times

Appeared in the Calgary Sun, May 6, 2020

“Sadly, Canadians haven’t had much to celebrate lately. But here’s some good news. Our environmental record is excellent compared to most of the world’s wealthiest—and cleanest—countries.

A new Fraser Institute study compares and ranks 33 high-income countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on a wide range of measures including air and water quality, greenhouse gases and biodiversity. The study provides an overall score (zero to 100.0) across 17 indicators to provide an easy way to understand Canada’s performance compared to other high-income countries.

This year, Canada ranks 12th out of 33 countries with a score of 67.0 out of 100—above the OECD average score of 62.2 and only 7.0 points behind third-place Finland. Sweden is the top performer with a score of 80.0, South Korea is the lowest performer (41.4).

Specially, Canada performs exceptionally well in air quality and agriculture. To accurately measure Canada’s air quality and its impact on human health, the study uses two measures. The first examines the extent to which people are actually exposed to harmful fine particulate matter (an air pollutant that includes smoke, fumes, dust, etc.). Canada ranks 4th on this measure.

The second measure examines the portion of the population exposed to unsafe air pollutants as set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Canada is the top performer on this measure with 100 per cent of Canadians exposed to levels of fine particulate matter that comply with the air quality standard.

On agricultural measures, Canada’s performance is also impressive, ranking 4th on fertilizer use (nitrogen) and 11th on pesticide use.

The analysis shows that Canadians enjoy overall high levels of environmental quality relative to other high-income countries. But what’s often misunderstood is that in areas where Canada’s ranking is low, it’s sometimes unavoidable due to factors beyond our control such as geography and climate.

For example, Canada ranks 31st out of 33 countries on carbon intensity, which measures CO2 emissions relative to the size of the economy. Given this country’s massive size, cold climate (which demands more fuel for heating), long transportation distances and large natural resource sector, it would be extremely difficult for Canada to do much better, particularly given that most of the other countries are smaller with milder climates and higher population densities, which result in lower energy needs.

Moreover, it’s important to note that almost all high-income OECD countries perform well on almost all of the indicators. So even if Canada ranks lower on any particular measure, there’s often little difference between the top performers and us. For example, Canada ranks 13th on access to improved sanitation facilities with a score of 91.8—but second place Australia is not much higher, with a score of 99.9.

Overall, the evidence is clear—most wealthy, developed countries have established sound environmental protection regimes, and Canada fares well when compared to the best performers in the world.

During these troubling times, we can definitely use some good news. Canadians can be proud of our environmental record and the example we set for the world.”

Authors:

Elmira Aliakbari Associate Director, Natural Resource Studies, Fraser Institute

Ashley Stedman Senior Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute

Jairo Yunis Junior Policy Analyst

More from this study

Executive Summary

Read the Full Report 42 Pages

View the Infographic

Read the News Release

Policy implications:

" Indicators such as these do not, on their own, imply a need for less restrictive or more restrictive policies. It is a mistake to argue that just because Canada is not at the top of every list we ought to adopt stricter policies: obviously it is impossible for every country to be in first place, and it is unrealistic to suppose any one country could be top-ranked in everything. Even where Canada ranks below the mid-point, recommendations to change environmental policies need to be based on comparisons of costs and benefits. Any particular ranking on any particular scale can be consistent with a country having appropriate environmental standards. The main implication of this report is that Canada is not an environmental laggard as it has been portrayed in the past. Canadians enjoy high levels of environmental quality in absolute terms and in comparison to our OECD peers. Where our ranking is low it is sometimes unavoidable as a result of our geography or climate, and in other cases it reflects the tight distribution of outcomes among the world’s wealthiest nations. In many areas of environmental quality that matter the most to Canadians, we compare favourably to the rest of the OECD and, by implication, the rest of the world."

"Our strength as a community is how we provide for our seniors and how we teach our youth. This, balanced with quality of life for the rest of our population, is what Preeceville and area is all about. We are proud to be a community in Saskatchewan."

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Business continuity planning (BCP) is the process involved in creating a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster." Jun 1, 2019

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Events:

Preeceville & District Lions Club Chase the Ace - Minimum Jack-Pot is now at a $9,604.
Chase the Ace has been postponed due to Coronavirus concerns and will resume once it is safe to do so!

http://www.townofpreeceville.ca/calendar.html

http://www.townofpreeceville.ca/recreation-news.html May June 2020 2019 newsletter