What's new
Wall government cuts biosphere funding
Provincial funding for the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve has been cut by $60, 000 or approximately half of the preserve's operating budget, forcing educational programs and research activities to be curtailed.
Saskatchewan's only biosphere, located about 95 kms northwest of Saskatoon, is a sanctuary for rare birds including white pelicans and cormorants.
June 2010
Environment hurt by Wall government cuts
Running another deficit budget, the Wall government made significant cuts to the Environment in the 2010-2011 budget:
- Dutch Elm Disease Program (entire program)
fighting forest fires
- Go-Green initiatives to adapt to climate change
- Industrial Environmental Protection
- Climate change research
- watersheds (40 percent of their annual budget)
- Saskatchewan's only UNESCO designated Biosphere
(50 percent of their annual budget).
Sell-off of wildlife lands
The Wall government dismissed concerns of environmental groups, First Nations, and concerned citizens and passed controversial amendments that remove protection of 3.5 million acres of wildlife habitat.
By removing these sensitive lands from legislation, the Wall government is able to sell sensitive lands without any consultation or debate.
The government has also dismissed calls to include new lands under legislation to compensate for the loss of lands to be sold off quietly by the Minister of Environment.
May 2010
"Results-based" really "self-regulation"
Moving ahead with so-called "results based" environmental regulation, the Wall government passed legislation that eases and, in some cases, removes the need for environmental assessments, shifts responsibility to polluters to stay in-line with regulations, and adopts a regulatory "code" that is yet to be developed and allows the Minister to exempt polluters from the code.
May 2010
Broken promise on climate change
During the 2007 general election, the Wall government promised to follow the aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the former NDP government.
After first announcing their intention to break their election promise, the Wall government has finally come up with a plan that, as expected, sets significantly lower targets. It will also be up to polluters to ensure they reduce their emissions with government enforcement being after-the-fact.