Missing: Two made-in-Canada websites

Today, the top three results on Google for the search term “environment canada climate change” lead to dead ends. The governing Conservative Party had the websites emptied of content last year. Canada’s Environment Minister John Baird, however, says he is about ready to let the country know how the current government plans to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Since last year, Environment Canada and the Government of Canada’s climate change home pages have not had any material other than a brief message about an “effective” and “realistic” “made-in-Canada plan for reducing greenhouse gases.”

This Friday, Canada’s “Fourth National Report on Climate Change” (4NR) pledging absolute emissions reductions in 2050 was added to the above message along with “Canada’s Intial Report Under the Kyoto Protocol,” both in PDF format at Environment Canada’s climate change website.

In the past, the two sites were good sources for understanding the issue. The user-friendly HTML content on the websites disappeared sometime last year.

Responding to an email about the uncertain status of one of the websites last October, Sylvain Boutot, a “Meteorological Inquiry Specialist” wrote:

"The Government of Canada is putting in place a made-in-Canada plan for reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and ensuring clean air, water, land and energy for Canadians.
On April 13 of this year (2006), as part of developing the made-in-Canada approach, 15 programs that have completed their work or which required a different approach have been wound down. These programs' web presence was amended accordingly.”

Mr. Boutot included a link to the new Clear Air Act-inspired “Clean Air Online.” There, climate change is bundled with other “air-related issues.” The hyperlink for more information on climate change leads back to the empty page that has been “wound down.”

The information available on climate change at “Clean Air Online” is relatively limited. Damon Matthews, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University, reviewed the content on the website. He says the basic information is sound, but he takes exception to the claim on the site that "the effects or benefits of taking action today may not be seen for many to hundreds of years."

Matthews argues, “that strong action taken now could see direct benefit (in terms of reduced negative impacts) within the next few decades. Though it is true that no action will see immediate benefit.”

Clicking on the hyperlinks to other issues that fall under the clean air canopy like acid rain or smog, though, does not lead to sites that refer to a “made in Canada” approach, nor does it confront you with formidable government documents. Any useful information to be found in the 4NR has to be culled from its 318 pages. The other sites address a specific environmental problem, but do not go into detail about how exactly the government is approaching the issue.

It is not as though information on climate change is scarce across the network of the government’s websites. There are plenty of informative sites to which those working within the ministry will quickly refer interested people. It is not clear why the decommissioned website does not refer to these resources.

Last November, the Liberal Party of Canada got access to emails inside Canada's Natural Resources Ministry, the Globe and Mail reported. The internal correspondence revealed that federal employees were asked to remove references to the Kyoto Protocol from web material. (There is still work to be done. According to the department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, “Canada is a strong supporter of the Kyoto Protocol.”)

Workers who had developed the award-winning "One-Tonne Challenge," among other environmental programs, watched those initiatives get cancelled. The climate change website was one of those cut.

The office of the environment minister did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment on their peculiar approach to the climate change website and the ministry's future plans.

The telephone number for Caitlin Horrall, who, according to a government communications officer, was the webmaster for the climate change site leads to an inoperative voice mail box.
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There are ample Government of Canada resources on climate change available. Matthews recommends the Meteorological Service of Canada website “Understanding the Science of Climate Change” for a comprehensive overview of the subject.

Other federal sources of information include:

Health Canada: "Climate Change and Health"

Natural Resources Canada: "Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program"

Meteorological Service of Canada: "Science of Climate Change"