Latest News
- Premier To Meet With Canada's Leading Economists
- Premier Rodney MacDonald and Finance Minister Michael Baker will meet today, Nov. 17, with economic forecasters from Canada's Banks as well as the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC) and the Conference Board of Canada. (More...)
School Kids' Info
Cabinet
Award of Excellence
- Read all about the Premier's Award of Excellence.
Medal of Bravery
- Find out about the Nova Scotia Medal of Bravery.
Milestone Certificates
- Find out about certificates for special milestones available from the Protocol Office.
Premier's Speeches
Premier Rodney MacDonald's column
Every Day is Earth Day
April 23, 2007
People throughout Nova Scotia marked Earth Day on Sunday by taking small, individual actions such as purchasing native tree and plants in Wolfville, cleaning up beaches in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, or learning in Tatamagouche about backyard composting.
American Senator Gaylord Nelson first had the idea in the 1960's; Nelson and his staff made it a reality in 1970, and Earth Day is today a worldwide phenomenon.
At its core, Earth Day is about small, individual actions that add up to something bigger. Think about it this way: if you are reading this column right now the pictures you see are shaped by tiny dots or pixels that unite to give texture, shape and meaning to something larger.
In the same way, the actions each of us take to sustain and enhance our environment work together and truly become something with greater impact.
My government believes the Earth's climate is indeed changing and that our human activities continue to play a role in this very real problem—the science is overwhelming.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released an important report this month. IPCC experts said extreme weather will cause more damage and have greater economic and social costs, and it is very likely that climate change can slow the pace of progress toward sustainable development.
In Nova Scotia, we want to see sustainable development accelerate, not slow. To that end, my government has successfully passed the "Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act".
It is our goal to be internationally recognized, by 2020, as having one of the cleanest and most sustainable environments in the world.
By 2020, we want to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions 35 per cent. Following the lead of California, the province will adopt emission standards for new motor vehicles. And a minimum of 18.5 per cent of our electricity needs will come from renewable sources.
The Act will commit government to raising our province’s economic performance to the Canadian average—or better—by 2020. This is the first time we’ve coupled a major economic development commitment and the setting of tough goals for cleaning up our land, air, and water. This is vital to my government’s work to create a New Nova Scotia because the health of the environment, the economy and the people of Nova Scotia are interconnected.
Switching gears I also wanted to address an issue that continues to be a priority for my government: The Atlantic Accord.
The 2005 Atlantic Accord was negotiated and signed by Premier Hamm with the Liberal Government of the day in recognition that our offshore resources are, and would be forever, a tool of economic development. As stated clearly in the accord, those resources were never to be counted in the current or in any future equalization formulas.
However, in its 2007 Budget the Federal Government did not live up to the commitment it signed in 2005. And as good as the budget was for Nova Scotians in the area of infrastructure, it effectively, placed a cap on the revenues that we can receive under the Accord.
We are in the midst of running the numbers, based on conservative assumptions, to calculate our losses. But I can tell you; our approach has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, one of respectful, yet determined and assertive discussion with our federal counterparts.
Our environment is very much key to the New Nova Scotia, and so is the Atlantic Accord.
You have my commitment that I won't rest until the Accord is honoured.