Environmental Commissioner pans Canada’s climate change strategy

Media release from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada:

February 5, 2009 – The government has no means to determine whether departmental sustainable development strategies
are contributing to sustainable development, says the Commissioner of
the Environment and Sustainable Development, Scott Vaughan, in his Annual Report on Sustainable Development Strategies.

“The
results of this year’s audit have not changed our view that the
government’s approach to preparing and using sustainable development
strategies over the past decade is not working,” said Mr. Vaughan.

Each
year since 1995, the Commissioner has been required by law to assess
whether departments have met the objectives of their strategies and
whether the plans set out in these strategies have been implemented.

This year, Parliament passed a new Federal Sustainable Development Act. Under the new Act, Environment Canada is required to develop a federal sustainable development strategy, including federal sustainable development goals and targets and an implementation strategy for meeting each target.  The Commissioner
will review and comment to the Minister on the draft strategy in 2010
or before, and report to Parliament on various issues related to the
government’s progress beginning in 2011.

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