Previously I posted this.

Now it looks like Rona Ambrose, Canada’s Environment Minister, is facing even more possible legal action. This is regarding logging in the habitats of the spotted owl. Rona Ambrose says the owl “does not currently face imminent threats to its survival or recovery.” So only having seventeen owls left is not a threat to its survival or recovery? Does the number have to be a single digit before it becomes an actual threat in the eyes of Mrs. Ambrose?

So only having seventeen owls left is not a threat to its survival or recovery? Does the number have to be a single digit before it becomes an actual threat in the eyes of Mrs. Ambrose?

The Minister of the Environment is supposed to be taking care of our environment. She obviously has more important interests than the environment and she should resign if she doesn’t make her top priority the environment. I suggest everyone to write a letter about this matter to the Prime Minister and Rona Ambrose. This is an urgent matter and the minister should be protecting the environment and not the people who want to exploit the environment.

She has the power to force the provinces to act (Through the Species At Risk Act), but she isn’t using it. Demand that she uses it or resigns.

The Sierra Legal Defence Fund had asked federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose to use the legislation to override the provincial government, and to stop logging in the owl’s habitat in the the southwest corner of the province.
However, Ambrose wrote a letter to the group rejecting that course of action, saying the owl “does not currently face imminent threats to its survival or recovery.”
Sierra Legal Defence spokesman Devon Page says he is disappointed but not surprised at the minister’s decision.
“They never entrench on provincial jurisdiction. And we’ve had laws in Canada for over 35 years that have empowered the federal government to act in the provinces to protect the environment, and not once have they ever been applied.”
He adds that with only 17 spotted owls left, time is running out. Ten years ago, there were 100 breeding pairs, and there is concern that the birds will be extinct by 2010 if logging in their habitats isn’t stopped.

Well it looks like Canada’s Environment Minister, may actually be forced to do something about the environment!

EDMONTON, AB – A coalition of environmental groups today served Federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose with a petition giving her 60 days to step in to protect two endangered plants in Alberta or face a lawsuit. Alberta Wilderness Association, Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Sierra Club of Canada and Nature Canada, represented by Sierra Legal Defence Fund, are threatening the suit to test the federal government’s intention to protect Canada’s endangered wildlife.
“When Canadians were assured by the federal government that the Species at Risk Act would protect all of Canada’s endangered plants and animals, were they being told the truth?” asked Rachel Plotkin of Sierra Club. “This case will reveal the answer.”
The Species at Risk Act, while a national law, does not apply in the provinces unless the federal cabinet orders it to, which it will do only on the recommendation of the Federal Environment Minister if she considers provincial laws inadequate. But Minister Ambrose has failed to make such a recommendation for Alberta despite the fact that the province has no endangered species legislation and does not protect national endangered species.
To test the government’s commitment to protecting all of Canada’s endangered species, the groups are asking Rona Ambrose to recommend protection for the tiny cryptanthe and small-flowered sand verbena. These plants, though at immediate risk of extinction, have small populations and small footprints making them an easy choice for protection.

I say kudos to the Sierra Club of Canada and all other groups involved.

The federal cabinet must order this law to be applied in Alberta, and Rona Ambrose must recommend the cabinet to do this. How can she defend that Alberta’s laws as adequate? There are none! Ok, I’ll let her speak first; I’m jumping ahead of the gun with my own preconceived notions of what she will say. It will be interesting to see how she really responds. If she doesn’t respond positively, I would really love to hear her excuse.