Still, the bill, introduced into Canada's House of Commons last week, is the first Canadian legislation to try to protect the country's endangered species. An attempt by the government and most of Canada's 10 provinces to reach an agreement on animal protection died in 1996 because the separatist government of Quebec refused to take part in negotiations. Since then, Canada has been under pressure from the Clinton administration and US-based environmental groups to pass legislation with as much teeth as US environmental laws. But with the opposition arrayed against it, even if it passes into law, the act may not survive long. The resource-dependent province of Alberta for instance, is threatening to take the government to court to have the bill declared unconstitutional.
Land management is a provincial responsibility under Canada's constitution.
And environmentalists are denouncing the bill as too toothless to protect animals and are demanding changes to it. This is a very weak bill. The new law will make it illegal to kill species Canada's government deems worthy of legal protection, and envisages a co- operative regime with the provinces and land owners and users to design and implement species recovery plans. A scientific committee will decide which species are slipping away, but it will be up to the country's cabinet to decide which ones deserve legal protection under the bill. The environmental groups want the cabinet to defer to scientists.