The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) was a Canadian advisory program created in response to the 1987

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

document ''

Our Common Future __NOTOC__ ''Our Common Future'', also known as the Brundtland Report, was published on October 1987 by the United Nations through the Oxford University Press. This publication was in recognition of Gro Harlem Brundtland's, former Norwegian Prime M ...

'' by the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

. The NRTEE focused on sustaining Canada's prosperity without stealing resources from

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or compromising their ability to live securely. The Conservative government of

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

ended funding to NRTEE, which ceased to exist on 31 March 2013.

Overview

The National Round Table was an independent policy advisory body to the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. Its mandate was to raise awareness among Canadians and their governments about the challenges of

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

. Over its 25 year history, the NRTEE released dozens of

reports A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

on priority issues: forests,

brownfield land In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

s, infrastructure, energy, water, air, climate change, and more. It offered advice to governments on how best to reconcile and integrate the often divergent challenges of economic prosperity and environmental conservation. It brought together hundreds of leaders and experts with first-hand knowledge in many disciplines. Its

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, appointed by the federal government, were active in businesses, universities, environmentalism, labour, public policy, and community life from across Canada.

Disbanding

On 31 March 2013, the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government of

eliminated the budget for the NRTEE, effectively ending it. Environment Minister

Peter Kent James Peter Kent (born July 27, 1943) is a former Canadian journalist and former politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Thornhill from 2008 to 2021. He served as Minister of the Environment in the 28th ...

initially offered the rationale that the funding was unnecessary, because Canadians could by that time access climate change research through the internet, universities, and

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

s. In response to a question in the

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, then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that the government should not be funding the roundtable because it had issued a series of reports advocating a form of

carbon pricing Carbon pricing (or pricing), also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS), is a method for nations to reduce global warming. The cost is applied to greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage polluters to reduce the co ...

, which he said "the people of Canada have repeatedly rejected ... It should agree with Canadians. It should agree with the government." The roundtable had released several reports that had concluded that the federal government would have to act more aggressively if it were to reach its

Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

target of a 17% reduction in

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

from 2005 levels by 2020. On 26 March 2013, Kent issued a directive preventing the roundtable from transferring its research and the contents of its website to Sustainable Prosperity, a national research network based at the University of Ottawa. Instead, he said that

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ( ...

would lay claim to all previous work, which Kent promised would remain accessible to the public. The move appeared to leave the fate of two unpublished documents on the history, role, and relationship of the roundtable to the government uncertain. One of these, entitled ''Reflections from Past Leaders of the NRTEE'', was subsequently leaked and posted to the internet.

Publications

* Se
Scribd- National Round Table
for 104 available publications.
"Canada's Opportunity: Adopting Life Cycle Approaches for Sustainable Development."

References

External links

National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
{{Economy of Canada footer Environment of Canada Economy of Canada Environmental agencies in Canada 2013 disestablishments in Canada