Gallon Letter can only comment that today’s Speech from the Throne promised very little for the environment, nothing for a national energy policy, no mention of the oil ands, and no mention whatsoever of climate change.

Relevant references included:

• In this, the 100^th anniversary year of our national parks system, our Government will create significant new protected areas.
• Looking to the future, our Government will engage a broad range of stakeholders on the development of a National Conservation Plan, to move our conservation objectives forward and better connect all Canadians with nature.
• Our Government is committed to developing Canada’s extraordinary resource wealth in a way that protects the environment. It will support major new clean energy projects of national or regional significance, such as the planned Lower Churchill hydroelectricity project in Atlantic Canada.
• It will engage the provinces, territories and industry on ways to improve the regulatory and environmental assessment process for resource projects.
• It will help open the door to greater economic development by providing new investments in First Nations Land Management. It will promote access to clean water and the deployment of clean energy technology in Aboriginal and northern communities.

Another element relevant to Canada’s Sustainable Development may be:

• Our Government will aim to complete negotiations on a free trade agreement with the European Union by 2012. It will also seek to complete negotiations on a free trade agreement with India in 2013.

That’s it!  We hope you want to be “connected to nature”. If that is not enough, this Throne Speech leaves environmentally concerned Canadians pretty much out of luck!

For the full text of the Speech from the Throne visit http://www.sft.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1390