Environmental Policy Convergence in Canada's Fossil Fuel Provinces? Regulatory Streamlining, Impediments, and Drift

This article identifies notable trends in environmental policy surrounding oil and gas development in Canada's leading producing provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan) in the period from 2009 to 2014: environmental policy streamlining in particular vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Public Policy
Main Authors: Carter, Angela V., Fraser, Gail S., Zalik, Anna
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2016-041
https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cpp.2016-041
Description
Summary:This article identifies notable trends in environmental policy surrounding oil and gas development in Canada's leading producing provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan) in the period from 2009 to 2014: environmental policy streamlining in particular via the consolidation of environmental policymaking in development-oriented agencies, the continuation and raising of barriers to public involvement in decisions on oil and gas activity, and the avoidance of cumulative impact assessment. These trends signal policy convergence facilitating oil and gas development during a period of accelerating extraction and weakening federal environmental policy. More broadly, this confirms a pattern of conventional politics in energy-dependent subnational governments.