Environment Canada has been doing fewer inspections, investigations and prosecutions over the last five years to enforce a law protecting people from toxic chemicals and air pollution.
According to figures provided last month in response to a written question submitted in the House of Commons, the department investigated 43 companies for violations of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act in 2015-16. There were 22 prosecutions and convictions.
"It's wild that there was only one investigation that led to a prosecution in 2018 and 2019," she said. "I think most Canadians would be surprised to hear that. I don't think anyone thinks there is only one company violating." That report called out Environment Canada for disproportionately focusing on dry cleaners and the fluid they use for cleaning -- known as perchloroethylene -- even though it was not more toxic than other substances investigators were supposed to be monitoring.Asked to explain the drop in investigations under the act, a spokesperson for Environment Canada said only that investigations can be complex and take many years to complete.
Those annual reports do show the number of total inspections the department is doing has also dropped substantially, from 3,898 in 2015-16, to 1,608 in 2018-19. "When you start digging into the numbers here you find that the government is not taking it seriously," he said. The committee made more than 80 recommendations, including a suggestion to consider enshrining the right to a healthy environment in the law, mandatory labels for hazardous materials in a product, and better data collection on those products.
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