Local environmentalists petition to get national network reconnected
Lynda Lukasik Hamilton environmentalists, including Lynda Lukasik, of Environment Hamilton, are rallying to fight federal funding cuts to a national environmental network that has linked local residents to policy-makers for decades.
John Rennison/The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton environmentalists are rallying to fight federal funding cuts to a national environmental network that has linked local residents to policy-makers for decades.
The federal government announced in October it was ending more than 30 years of annual funding for the Canadian Environmental Network, which works to connect more than 640 environmental groups across the country with bureaucrats and lawmakers. The surprise decision meant staff at the national agency, as well as the Ontario arm of the network, immediately lost their jobs.
In Hamilton, leaders of local environmental groups fear they’ve lost their voice.
The network is “critical” in hooking up local experts with federal bureaucrats in charge of forging new environmental laws and policies, said Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton.
Lukasik was recently recruited by the network to participate in a steel industry roundtable with government and business officials with the goal of setting national air emission standards. “The environmental community voice from Hamilton at that table was me,” she said.
Without the efforts of the network, “you’ll still see government-industry consultations happen, but you won’t see them with any non-government, non-industry people at the table,” Lukasik said at a meeting of local environmentalists Monday.
Most of the 30 member groups associated with the Hamilton Area Eco-Network have signed a petition asking the government to reconsider the funding cut, said co-ordinator Laurel Harrison. Members will meet next Thursday to brainstorm ways to support the endangered national agency.
Harrison said the government’s move will leave small, volunteer-run Hamilton groups in the dark about possible funding and opportunities to influence changing regulations or government decisions. “The loss of the (national network) means local organizations are not going to get the information they need,” she said. “It weakens the community.”
She pointed to the diversity of concerned local groups, including the Conserver Society, Clean Air Hamilton, the local waste reduction task force and the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. “It’s not just a few people concerned about trees,” she said.
Members said they planned to reach out to Local Hamilton Conservative MP David Sweet with their concerns this month. He was not available for comment Monday.
But Michelle Rempel, parliamentary secretary to the federal Minister of the Environment, told the Legislature in October the funding cut of around $547,000 was a budget decision and the department plans to ramp up “web-based consultation” with the public.
This article by appeared in The Hamilton Spectator, November 28, 2011.
Hamilton 350 Blog
The federal government announced in October it was ending more than 30 years of annual funding for the Canadian Environmental Network, which works to connect more than 640 environmental groups across the country with bureaucrats and lawmakers. The surprise decision meant staff at the national agency, as well as the Ontario arm of the network, immediately lost their jobs.
In Hamilton, leaders of local environmental groups fear they’ve lost their voice.
The network is “critical” in hooking up local experts with federal bureaucrats in charge of forging new environmental laws and policies, said Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton.
Lukasik was recently recruited by the network to participate in a steel industry roundtable with government and business officials with the goal of setting national air emission standards. “The environmental community voice from Hamilton at that table was me,” she said.
Without the efforts of the network, “you’ll still see government-industry consultations happen, but you won’t see them with any non-government, non-industry people at the table,” Lukasik said at a meeting of local environmentalists Monday.
Most of the 30 member groups associated with the Hamilton Area Eco-Network have signed a petition asking the government to reconsider the funding cut, said co-ordinator Laurel Harrison. Members will meet next Thursday to brainstorm ways to support the endangered national agency.
Harrison said the government’s move will leave small, volunteer-run Hamilton groups in the dark about possible funding and opportunities to influence changing regulations or government decisions. “The loss of the (national network) means local organizations are not going to get the information they need,” she said. “It weakens the community.”
She pointed to the diversity of concerned local groups, including the Conserver Society, Clean Air Hamilton, the local waste reduction task force and the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. “It’s not just a few people concerned about trees,” she said.
Members said they planned to reach out to Local Hamilton Conservative MP David Sweet with their concerns this month. He was not available for comment Monday.
But Michelle Rempel, parliamentary secretary to the federal Minister of the Environment, told the Legislature in October the funding cut of around $547,000 was a budget decision and the department plans to ramp up “web-based consultation” with the public.
This article by appeared in The Hamilton Spectator, November 28, 2011.
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