OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada congratulates outgoing Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan on an honest, hard hitting report on the lack of environmental stewardship by the federal government. Unfortunately it confirms the worst fears of Canadians: that the federal government is not providing environmental stewardship.

“I want to thank Mr. Vaughan for his honest and forthright report on environmental protection in Canada. Unfortunately it is very scary news,” said John Bennett, Executive Director.

The Commissioner of the Environment has provided Canadians with a road map to restoring environmental stewardship in Canada. There is a pressing need to prepare to respond to oil spills on both the east and west coasts, the need to regulate the harmful fracking for natural gas, and the need to end the exemption of oil and gas companies from reporting pollution. He also confirmed that the federal government continues to subsidize to the oil industry.

“You don’t have to be a “radical” to understand the threat of a 300% increase in tanker traffic off the west coast,” said Mr. Bennett.