OTTAWA/TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE – Ecojustice’s director of law reform, Muhannad Malas, made the following statement in reaction to the government’s newly tabled 2025-26 federal budget:
“As people across country continue to grapple with declining affordability, rising rates of unemployment and the escalating consequences of the converging toxic, biodiversity and climate crises, Canadians expect the federal government to meet the moment.
“Canadians should be alarmed at the scale of proposed funding cuts to the public service and essential programs within Environment and Climate Change Canada and other departments over the next three years. Today’s budget introduced short-sighted cuts that would sunset the Enhanced Nature Legacy Fund — a crucial program aimed at helping the country meet its biodiversity targets, expand Indigenous-led conservation, and species-at-risk recovery. Without funding to do the work to meet our biodiversity targets, the decline of biological diversity is likely to continue, making our food supply and natural resources increasingly at risk, and leading to higher costs and shortages. This federal budget has also failed to renew funding for the Chemicals Management Plan, which sunsets next spring and is essential for the federal government to effectively regulate toxic pollution that makes communities sicker.
“The Climate Competitiveness Strategy outlines a path to strengthen the industrial carbon price at the same time, the Strategy signals a retreat on oil and gas emissions caps, offers no support for EV or heat pump adoption that help Canadians lower their energy costs and emissions. It does help would-be corporate greenwashers by removing the private right of action in the Competition Act. Prime Minister Carney says climate action is both a moral and economic imperative — it is also a legal one. The federal government may wish to forget about emissions in making climate policy, but this will not make its legal obligations go away.
“The federal government has an opportunity to reverse course on these proposed cuts by renewing funding to essential environmental programs that are necessary to build a strong and sustainable future for everyone in Canada. Public programs and funding that protect human health, ecosystems and societal wellbeing are not ‘nice to haves’; they are the essential building blocks to a strong and resilient domestic economy.
“We urge the federal government to work with parties across the floor of the house to ensure that this budget can deliver for people, biodiversity, and our environment.”
About
Ecojustice uses the power of the law to combat climate change, defend nature, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions, law and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.
Ecojustice is a member of the Green Budget Coalition and advocated for the implementation of the coalition’s recommendations to invest in climate and nature action, and reducing pollution in the 2025 federal budget.
