Remembering Brian Mulroney’s Environmental Accomplishments

The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, 18^th Prime Minister of Canada, passed away at age 84 on February 29, 2024. He served as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993, representing the Progressive Conservative Party.

Among a plethora of accomplishments and contributions to Canadian prosperity, Mr. Mulroney is remembered as a staunch proponent of environmental protection. In fact, many hold him as the greenest Prime Minister in Canadian history.

Today, climate change is a pressing concern for almost all Canadians – but it wasn’t always this way. Environmental concerns like global warming and ozone depletion only became front-page news in the late 1980s. Early leadership from Mr. Mulroney and others has been recognized as fundamental to combatting climate change in North America.

In honouring and remembering the late Mr. Mulroney, YCR would like to highlight some of his most impactful environmental contributions.

Canadian Environment Protection Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

Domestically, two impactful pieces of legislation were passed at the federal level during Mr. Mulroney’s time in office: the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA).

CEPA, first enacted in 1988, consolidated various pieces of legislation related to the environment. In giving the federal government power to manage toxic substances and regulate sources of pollution, CEPA was seen as “one of the principal federal laws aimed at environmental protection in Canada.”

CEPA was re-worked in 1999 and today remains one of Canada’s most important pieces of environmental legislation. As Canada strives towards a net-zero future, CEPA provides the federal government with the statutory authority to do so.

The CEAA was enacted in 1992 and has since been repealed and replaced with the Impact Assessment Act (IAA). The Act set the groundwork for responsible resource and infrastructure development across Canada, striving to “achieve sustainable development that conserves environmental quality by integrating environmental factors into planning and decision-making process.”

Though the CEAA has now been replaced with the IAA, the importance of environmental considerations in resource and project development is more important now than ever. The Mulroney government’s early work on this front has allowed Canada to become one of the most environmentally responsible energy and natural resource developers in the world.

The Montreal Protocol

On September 16, 1987, Canada hosted countries from around the world in Montreal, QC, to create and sign an agreement called the Montreal Protocol. It’s now remembered as the “treaty that saved the ozone layer.”

The Mulroney government took initiative to invite the world to help fix the hole in the earth’s ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol, now signed by 197 countries, sought to drastically reduce the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). At the time, ODS were common in refrigerators, air conditioners, and aerosols.

Though “fixing the hole in our sky” has not been an overnight process (in fact, it’s still ongoing), scientists say ODS use peaked in the 1990s and has since fallen substantially, thanks to the Montreal Protocol. According to the United Nations, the positive impacts of the Montreal Protocol are saving an estimated 2 million people from developing skin cancer every year.

Acid Rain Treaty

Along with ozone depletion, acid rain was also a pressing environmental issue in the 1980s and 1990s. Acid rain is precipitation (like rain, snow, and hail) contaminated with man-made sulphur and nitrogen dioxide emissions, and is harmful to people and the environment.

Prime Minister Mulroney and his cabinet worked extensively with the provinces and with the United States to put an agreement regarding acid rain into place. The Acid Rain Treaty – formally named the Canada–United States Air Quality Agreement was signed in 1991 by Prime Minister Mulroney and US President George H. W. Bush (the agreement was previously negotiated between Mulroney and President Reagan).

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), “both Canada and the United States have made significant progress in reducing emissions of pollutants that cause acid rain and ground-level ozone since 1991.”

Earth Summit Leadership

The Earth Summit was a major environmental conference meeting of United Nations countries in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. At the Earth Summit, two monumental environment-related agreements were created: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC).

The CBD is, as its name suggested, focussed on protecting and promoting biological diversity and sustainable development. The agreement has been signed by 196 countries and, since 1994, calls a bi-annual meeting of its parties.

Canada – led by Prime Minister Mulroney – played a crucial role in the early days of the CBD. Canada was the first industrialized country to ratify the CBD. Additionally, experts claim that Canada’s signing of the treaty in Rio de Janeiro “motivated the United Kingdom and Germany to pledge their support and thus avoid the convention’s defeat.”

The UNFCCC, a much more well-known agreement, is also a product of the 1992 Earth Summit. This international treaty aims to combat and mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and prevent global temperatures from rising any further.

Have you heard of the Kyoto Protocol? How about the Paris Agreement? Or those COP conferences that are held in different countries each year to discuss climate change? Each of those stems from the UNFCCC, signed at the Earth Summit. The legacy of the UNFCCC has created what is today a global push towards combatting climate change.

Canada was the first G7 nation to sign the Climate Change Convention (subsequently known as the UNFCCC) in Rio de Janeiro. On top of that, Mulroney pledged – at the Earth Summit – $260 million from Canada toward helping developing nations realize their sustainable development commitments under the UNFCCC.

National Parks

Among international environmental leadership, Mr. Mulroney’s work domestically with national parks cannot be forgotten. During the Mulroney years, Canada established itself as “a global leader in protected areas and conservation.”

During his years as Prime Minister, Mr. Mulroney saw the creation of eight of Canada’s 37 national parks. Additionally, his government is known to have amended the National Parks Act to establish “maintenance and restoration of ecological integrity” as a principal priority for the national parks system.

Canada’s national parks protect and showcase some of the country’s most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes. From Banff to Cape Breton Highlands – next time you visit a national park, thank the late Mr. Mulroney.

 

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