The longer the federal government waits to clamp down on emissions and business continues as usual, the more difficult and costly it becomes to meet environmental targets, the research concludes.

The new research comes from the soon-to-be-defunct National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, the federally funded advisory group formed to give advice and research on sustainable development.

The Harper government is in the process of abolishing the agency. Read more …

Funding for the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) was cut in the last budget, giving the group just one year to live. Since 1988, it has been producing research on how business and government policies can work together for sustainable development — including the idea of introducing carbon taxes. Read more …

Norway’s government says it will spend less of its oil wealth in an effort to avoid excessive economic growth, which has been boosting the national currency, hurting exporters.

The Finance Ministry says its use of oil income will be cut by 6 billion kroner ($1 billion) from the 122 billion kroner ($21 billion) approved last year for the 2012 budget.

The ministry said in a statement Tuesday that spending by businesses and households was “high” and it was sticking to its 2.75 per cent forecast for economic growth this year. Growth next year is expected to reach 3 per cent. Read more …

The research by Forest Ethics Advocacy was based on an analysis of shareholder information in January 2012 from Bloomberg Professional of more than a dozen companies, including nine with headquarters in Canada, and six with their head offices in other countries. It found 71 per cent of the ownership of oilsands production was foreign, while the foreign-based companies controlled 24.2 per cent of the sector’s production.

“Some notably Canadian oil companies, such as Suncor, Canadian Oil Sands and Husky, are predominantly owned by non-Canadians,” said the report. “The data also shows us that more than half of Canada’s oil and gas revenue goes to foreign entities.” Read more …

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has promoted the legislative changes as providing greater certainty to investors keen to develop Canada’s vast resources. But in some major ways, the government will make the system more opaque and subject to ministerial discretion. Read more …

In an interview airing on CBC Radio’s The House on Saturday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the party is reaching “a breaking point” with such behaviour from the government, and is contemplating “legal” as well as “parliamentary” options.

“This is the 18th time that the Conservatives have invoked closure; it’s unprecedented,” Mulcair told host Evan Solomon.

Conservative MPs voted last week to limit debate on the 431-page budget implementation bill, leaving all MPs with less than a week to debate it at second reading stage before it heads to committee.

Conservative MPs justified the vote by saying there will be “more debate” on this bill than the Liberals ever had on any of their budget bills.

“We can’t have a Parliament that’s not open to the public that elected it,” said Mulcair, adding that “as the Official Opposition, we’re going to have to take some tough decisions in the coming weeks and months.” Read more …

Mr. Kent’s accusation in Parliament and media interviews, and the pattern they are a part of, suggest the government is improperly taking sides between the environment and business – trying to discredit those who raise environmental concerns in a public-hearing process mandated under federal law. Read more …

The government was consulting the industry about European climate change legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels, according to an email exchange between senior bureaucrats at Natural Resources Canada.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an oil and gas industry lobby group, is opposed to the European Fuel Quality Directive legislation, because it believes it unfairly discriminates against bitumen, the heavy oil derived from the oilsands sector, which the government describes as the “fastest growing source of (greenhouse gas) emissions in Canada.”

“I talked to (CAPP president) David Collyer about the possible Canadian position on the FQD that we discussed — everyone in same basket, at same level, until they prove otherwise,” wrote Mark Corey, an assistant deputy minister at Natural Resources Canada, in an internal email sent on Oct. 14, 2011. “He said his initial impression was that he liked it, but would confer and call me back.” Read more …

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant on Wednesday released a transparency document that reveals it paid $27-billion in taxes last year (not including sales tax), and breaks out the 14 countries in which it has major operations. Read more …

Opposition MPs are angry with the government for proposing major environmental policy changes in the budget implementation bill introduced yesterday and are demanding the proposals be hived off into a separate bill.

Bill C-38, which is more than 400 pages, proposes changes to numerous pieces of legislation, suggests repealing some laws and has other measures to implement what was promised in last month’s budget.

A large portion of the bill is dedicated to overhauling how environmental assessments are conducted, changes that were announced by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver last week; it also aims to repeal the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.

The Conservatives will be able to use their majority in the House of Commons and the Senate to pass the bill.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash accused the government in question period of launching a “full frontal assault on environmental protection” in the budget bill. She said the proposed changes will shut citizens out of pipeline project reviews, give the minister sweeping powers to approve projects and exempt many projects from review.

“Why is the minister hiding such significant changes in a 400-page budget bill? Is it because he knows that Canadians oppose this reckless attack on our environmental protection?” Nash said. Read more …