Canada’s Green Budget Coalition highlights key environmental priorities for the 2008 federal budget in Big Steps Forward: Recommendations for Budget 2008.

Mirroring Canadians’ concern for the environment, the Coalition budget recommendations focus on federal government efforts. Jim MacNeill, a leading environmental thinker said, “The budget is the single most important policy statement a government makes about its environment.”

The Coalition report indicates Canada’s economy is suffering from over consumption and inefficient use of non-renewable natural resources. Market prices undervalue the environmental impacts of over-polluting our air, water and soil.

The Coalition, comprised of 19 environmental and conservation organizations, formulated three priority recommendations for a better Canada; carbon pricing, action on Nature, and renewing the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Region.

Other suggestions included in the report are:

  • A cap and trade system on carbon or a tax of $30 per tone of carbon dioxide by 2009, increasing to $75 per tonne by 2020.
  • $1 billion investment over the next 5 years to establish national parks and protected areas for marine and terrestrial biodiversity conservation.
  • Convert 2 million acres of cropland to permanent cover and riparian protection to improve water quality.
  • Create a comprehensive, long-term sustainability strategy for the Great lakes and St. Lawrence River Region to clean up areas of concern and invest in water and wastewater infrastructure.

View December 19, 2007 Green Budget Coalition release
View 2008 report, Big Steps Forward: Recommendation for Budget 2008 (PDF)

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