"OTTAWA -- Changes to Canada's environmental protection laws in the federal budget implementation bill will offer new tools to 'authorize' water pollution, while allowing the government to outsource services to protect the country's waterways, says Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield."

"In a newly-released letter, Ashfield said the existing Fisheries Act, considered to be Canada's strongest environmental protection law, has "long played an important role in preventing pollution of Canadian waters." But he suggested it needed to be changed since it doesn't provide enough options allowing industry to disrupt or contaminate fish habitat.

"There are currently few tools to authorize pollution other than by detailed regulations," Ashfield wrote in the June 14 letter to Todd Panas, president of the Union of Environment Workers. "For example, the amended Fisheries Act will provide flexibility and establish new tools to authorize deposits of deleterious substances.""

Mike De Souza reports for Postmedia News June 25, 2012. [2]