Green Campus Undone: BOG member works to sabotage U of O’s eco-leadership

On the one hand, the University of Ottawa works hard to give itself an eco-veneer, with its Sustainable Development Office, its Institute for the Environment, and its Green Campus student club, but on the other hand, on the power hand…
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Contributed by Kevin McLeod
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The Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada's online registry of lobbyists reveals that V. Peter Harder, a member of the University of Ottawa's Board of Governors, lobbied the government of Canada on behalf of Crowflight Minerals last year regarding the firm's desire to dump toxic mining waste in Manitoba's Bucko Lake.
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According to Harder's registration the subject of his lobbying was "Policy or Program Government of Canada approval for the federal environmental assessment of Bucko Lake Tailings Impoundment Area”. Harder's registration's states that the government departments he lobbied were the Treasury Board of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Natural Resources Canada. The lobbying was done from April 21 2008 to the end May of 2008.
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According to Mining Watch Canada's renowned researcher and mining critic Catherine Coumans,
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"Crowflight Minerals is very much on our radar screen because this company wants to destroy a natural water body “frequented by fish” (as per the Fisheries Act definition) by using it as a cheap disposal site for its mine tailings. The water body is Bucko Lake.
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In 2002 a regulatory amendment of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) led to a schedule being added called Schedule 2. This Schedule redefines whatever natural water body that is placed on it as a Tailings Impoundment Area. Through this regulatory sleight of hand all protections that exist in the Fisheries Act and the MMER that would normally make it illegal to dump mine waste into a natural water body no longer apply to the targeted lake or river."
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Many U of O students would be appalled to learn that when he's not supporting drastic tuition increases BOG member Harder is busy lobbying the government of Canada to allow a mining firm to destroy a pristine body of water because it’s convenient and saves millions for the firm. Harder, a BOG member appointed by the Ontario government, was not voted to the BOG by University of Ottawa staff or students and like a majority of the BOG's members is clearly out of touch with the needs and interests of university students. Harder's presence on the BOG is a reminder of how unrepresentative and undemocratic the BOG really is.
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You can visit the Commissioner of Lobbyists online registry by going HERE.
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[Photo credit: University of Ottawa: V. Peter Harder, BOG member]
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ECO LINKS (Further reading)
Social Justice versus Eco-Lard
Climate Guy
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