Environmental control has become a major problem in North America's highly industrialized society. Governments are continually striving to find methods to effectively halt and control environmental degradation. One of the major manifestations of the desperate concern for improved environmental quality has been the emergence of a strong "public interest" environmental control movement in the United States. Canada, on the other hand, has given very little scope to public participation in the environmental decision-making process. The object of this paper is to determine the extent to which a strong environmental control movement can contribute to higher environmental quality, and to suggest methods to introduce public participation to the Canadian environmental control system. The advantages and disadvantages of allowing public participation are examined, with the conclusion that a strong environmental control movement with substantial participatory rights is essential to effective and comprehensive environmental control. The conclusion is also reached that the public can most appropriately be represented in the decision process by environmental control organizations. Evaluation is made of the present Canadian laws governing legal standing of "public interest" groups to participate. The lack of such standing is demonstrated both by the rigid standing rules of common law, and the failure of Canadian environmental legislation to relax these rules and adapt them to the specific problems encountered in environmental control law. The American system is considered in detail as an example of relaxed standing with respect to environmental control organizations, and the resultant benefit to environmental control efforts in the jurisdiction. The Americans have enacted the National Environmental Policy Act which requires that every federal agency develop methods of assessing the environmental consequence of propose actions and suggest alternatives to those actions. Failure to comply with these requirements constitutes a reviewable breach. Other American statutes have in effect removed all standing requirements and allow virtually anyone to sue to force compliance with environmental standards and regulations. It is concluded from the American experience that public participation is generally a desirable phenomenon in environmental control. It is further concluded that Canada can no longer justify its exclusion of public representation and requires legislation designed to implement the concept of "public interest" standing. To that end, recommendations are made to adopt an enactment similar to the National Environmental Policy Act in Canada and to introduce a system of registration whereby environmental control organizations, once registered, would be assured of participatory rights at all levels of the Canadian environmental decision-making process. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The objective of this study is to investigate the existing air and noise pollution abatement legislation in Canada as it relates to the air transportation industry, and suggest methods of improving this legislation to meet the future needs and demands of the human environment. A second objective is to provide guidelines for business and government action in the future, and to acquaint the individual with some of the issues of the "environmental era of air transportation." Based on personal interview, an extensive literature search, and the application of business principles, this study addresses the technical, economic and social problems associated with the formulation and implementation of effective environmental legislation. In addition, it discusses the roles of business and government in each of these problem areas. The thesis concludes that the Canadian legal system must undergo structural change to accommodate environmental issues; a 1973 Noise Control Act should be passed; and a federally supported environmental education program should be instituted. Other conclusions include recommendations for increased research on the effects of the sonic boom and inadvertent climate modification, increased international participation in environmental affairs, and an improved market system to reflect environmental goods as scarce resources. This thesis also recommends increased government-industry cooperation in the formulation of technical and nontechnical standards and legislation, to ensure that reasonable and specific criteria are established for noise and air pollution abatement. The most important recommendation of this thesis is that a macro system approach be adopted in environmental management. This approach, which recognizes interactions and feedback in the social, economic and political environment, is vital to the future of Air Transportation and the Human Environment. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

A theme which currently dominates environmental regulation in Canada is for a strengthening of the "polluter pays" approach to environmental regulation. This trend sees those who impair the environment held increasingly financially responsible for their actions through such mechanisms as a new generation of statutory liabilities which include liability for environmental response and cleanup charges, the requirement of security in the event of environmental contamination, and the creation of statutory civil causes of action designed to assist claimants in recovering for losses resulting from environmental contamination. These mechanisms are supplemented by an increasing willingness by the courts to give serious consideration to innovative new approaches by private claimants to hold polluters civilly accountable for toxic tort related claims. As a result, those in Canada with potential exposure to this new generation of environmental liabilities will inevitably turn to the insurance industry for coverage. Ironically, it is these same new liabilities which will make it increasingly difficult for insurers to provide the desired coverage. Further, in the event that such coverage is provided, insurers will be required to be especially diligent in evaluating and delineating those environmental risks which they are prepared to cover. Many industrial and commercial enterprises will require environmental impairment insurance in order to carry out operations subject to environmental risk. Insurers providing environmental insurance in this context will effectively find themselves cast into the somewhat unlikely role of environmental regulators within Canadian society. For more than fifty years the insurance industry in Canada has provided a wide range of insurance products for liability resulting from impairment of the natural environment. In developing and marketing environmental impairment insurance products the insurance industry has primarily relied upon the risk-based analysis which it has historically utilized to provide coverage for more traditional insurance products such as fire, automobile, and marine insurance. However, it is submitted that the attempts by the industry to provide environmental impairment insurance has been fraught with problems, and the success of the products which have been provided has been limited. This in turn raises serious questions as to the ability of the insurance industry to assume responsibility for the regulation of environmental impairment in the future. It is the primary hypothesis of this thesis that the insurance industry has experienced significant difficulties in providing environmental impairment liability insurance in Canada, and that these difficulties are due in large part to the inability of the industry to accurately predict the incidence of loss associated with environmental impairment in Canada. Further, the difficulties with prediction experienced by the insurance industry are primarily the result of its failure to take into account perceptions of environmental risk by the Canadian public and by environmental decision-makers. Finally, this inability to accurately predict has been accompanied by the failure of the insurance industry to recognize the problem, resulting in overconfidence by the industry with respect to its environmental impairment liability products.

A theme which currently dominates environmental regulation in Canada is for a strengthening of the "polluter pays" approach to environmental regulation. This trend sees those who impair the environment held increasingly financially responsible for their actions through such mechanisms as a new generation of statutory liabilities which include liability for environmental response and cleanup charges, the requirement of security in the event of environmental contamination, and the creation of statutory civil causes of action designed to assist claimants in recovering for losses resulting from environmental contamination. These mechanisms are supplemented by an increasing willingness by the courts to give serious consideration to innovative new approaches by private claimants to hold polluters civilly accountable for toxic tort related claims. As a result, those in Canada with potential exposure to this new generation of environmental liabilities will inevitably turn to the insurance industry for coverage. Ironically, it is these same new liabilities which will make it increasingly difficult for insurers to provide the desired coverage. Further, in the event that such coverage is provided, insurers will be required to be especially diligent in evaluating and delineating those environmental risks which they are prepared to cover. Many industrial and commercial enterprises will require environmental impairment insurance in order to carry out operations subject to environmental risk. Insurers providing environmental insurance in this context will effectively find themselves cast into the somewhat unlikely role of environmental regulators within Canadian society. For more than fifty years the insurance industry in Canada has provided a wide range of insurance products for liability resulting from impairment of the natural environment. In developing and marketing environmental impairment insurance products the insurance industry has primarily relied upon the risk-based analysis which it has historically utilized to provide coverage for more traditional insurance products such as fire, automobile, and marine insurance. However, it is submitted that the attempts by the industry to provide environmental impairment insurance has been fraught with problems, and the success of the products which have been provided has been limited. This in turn raises serious questions as to the ability of the insurance industry to assume responsibility for the regulation of environmental impairment in the future. It is the primary hypothesis of this thesis that the insurance industry has experienced significant difficulties in providing environmental impairment liability insurance in Canada, and that these difficulties are due in large part to the inability of the industry to accurately predict the incidence of loss associated with environmental impairment in Canada. Further, the difficulties with prediction experienced by the insurance industry are primarily the result of its failure to take into account perceptions of environmental risk by the Canadian public and by environmental decision-makers. Finally, this inability to accurately predict has been accompanied by the failure of the insurance industry to recognize the problem, resulting in overconfidence by the industry with respect to its environmental impairment liability products. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Canada and the United States are two of the most energy-intensive countries in the world and have an immense impact upon their surrounding environment. Both countries have committed to contributing to the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, in accordance with the United Nations climate change regime. Their climate change-related energy policies do not, as yet, show any sign of achieving that objective, especially in light of the fact that greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise. This thesis consequently argues that not enough is being done by Canada-US to fulfill their commitments under the climate change-regime and tests that hypothesis.

No description available.

The Green Plan, Canada's six year environmental agenda, has now guided Canadian environmental policy for over a year and a half. In that time span, a large number of environmental initiatives have been announced under the Green Plan, and an even larger number are still promised. However, not every initiative contributes equally to preventing or abating pollution. The extent to which an initiative contributes directly to an improvement in environmental quality depends on the level of coercion of the policy instrument it employs. Initiatives which involve relatively coercive policy instruments, in particular regulatory action, are more likely to achieve their goal in the immediate future than initiatives which rely largely on persuasion such as guidelines and public education. The classification of the policy instruments in the Green Plan reveals a strong preference on the part of the federal government for non-coercive over coercive instruments. Only 13 per cent of the Green Plan initiatives involve regulatory action. The majority involve increasing capacity which means that the initiatives centre around research, studies, monitoring and plan development. The Fraser River Action Plan, a Green Plan initiative announced in June 1991, reflects the same federal preference for capacity increasing instruments as the larger Green Plan. Several variables help to explain this preference: constitutional constraints, pressure from other levels of government, opposition from industry, and environmental interest group pressure. Both the events leading up to the Green Plan and the implementation of the Fraser River Action Plan, suggest that the strongest motivating factor for the choice of policy instruments is the concern to avoid blame from the interests affected by a particular initiative. In practice, this means that the federal government is reluctant to make use of its regulatory authority to impose clean-up costs on the polluting industry. It also avoids to interfere with provincial jurisdiction over natural resources. In order to avoid blame from environmental groups and the public, who demand tighter pollution controls, the government relies on symbolic actions. Symbolic actions enable the government to show its concern but postpone pollution abatement to a later date. Federal reluctance to make use of its full constitutional authority in the area of environmental policy making combined with the large budget cuts the Green Plan has seen during its relatively short period of existence, belies the federal commitment to protecting the environment.

The Green Plan, Canada's six year environmental agenda, has now guided Canadian environmental policy for over a year and a half. In that time span, a large number of environmental initiatives have been announced under the Green Plan, and an even larger number are still promised. However, not every initiative contributes equally to preventing or abating pollution. The extent to which an initiative contributes directly to an improvement in environmental quality depends on the level of coercion of the policy instrument it employs. Initiatives which involve relatively coercive policy instruments, in particular regulatory action, are more likely to achieve their goal in the immediate future than initiatives which rely largely on persuasion such as guidelines and public education. The classification of the policy instruments in the Green Plan reveals a strong preference on the part of the federal government for non-coercive over coercive instruments. Only 13 per cent of the Green Plan initiatives involve regulatory action. The majority involve increasing capacity which means that the initiatives centre around research, studies, monitoring and plan development. The Fraser River Action Plan, a Green Plan initiative announced in June 1991, reflects the same federal preference for capacity increasing instruments as the larger Green Plan. Several variables help to explain this preference: constitutional constraints, pressure from other levels of government, opposition from industry, and environmental interest group pressure. Both the events leading up to the Green Plan and the implementation of the Fraser River Action Plan, suggest that the strongest motivating factor for the choice of policy instruments is the concern to avoid blame from the interests affected by a particular initiative. In practice, this means that the federal government is reluctant to make use of its regulatory authority to impose clean-up costs on the polluting industry. It also avoids to interfere with provincial jurisdiction over natural resources. In order to avoid blame from environmental groups and the public, who demand tighter pollution controls, the government relies on symbolic actions. Symbolic actions enable the government to show its concern but postpone pollution abatement to a later date. Federal reluctance to make use of its full constitutional authority in the area of environmental policy making combined with the large budget cuts the Green Plan has seen during its relatively short period of existence, belies the federal commitment to protecting the environment. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate