The environment is the subject of ministries AT the federal and provincial level in Canada, with the current highest environmental government official being the national Minister of the Environment Peter Kent. Canada's large land mass and coastline make it very susceptible to any climate changes, so any contemporary changes of climate in the country are of national concern. Of the factors caused by human intervention that can affect this environment, activities that sustain the economy of Canada such as oil and gas extraction, mining, forestry and fishing are influential. In 2011 United Nations said Canada's environment was the best in the world
Several governmental programs have been created to mitigate 20th and 21st century climate change, such as the One-Tonne Challenge. In late 2005 Canada hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, Quebec.
Hundreds of environmental organizations have been founded in Canada.
Famous quotes containing the words environment and/or canada:
“In a land which is fully settled, most men must accept their local environment or try to change it by political means; only the exceptionally gifted or adventurous can leave to seek his fortune elsewhere. In America, on the other hand, to move on and make a fresh start somewhere else is still the normal reaction to dissatisfaction and failure.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)