When considering environmental politics, distributional politics and sustainable development each has different objectives and ways of reaching them. Environmental politics tends to have a focus on the effects that the industrial realm has on the environment. This includes all of us, all other organisms, the natural world and future generations. It is far less concerned with how the proceeds of the economy are distributed than distributional politics. Environmental considerations add another aspect to consider when distributing these proceeds. It considers what was scarified to make these gains in the economy. Distributional politics is concerned with how the benefits of the economy are divided. Many governments use this to help them win over the population, however it works both ways. How they choose to divide the proceeds may win or lose them votes. When considering distributional politics, we must also consider the fact that it also usually involves an increase in the extraction and production involving natural resources. A third approach is sustainable development, which emphasizes that the environment, economy and society are all pieces to the puzzle and need to be used together for a solution. The main goal is to be able to take and use what we need to survive without overdoing it and making it impossible for future generations to get by. Environmental politics is more concerned with how the environment is impacted by us trying to grow the economy. Distributional politics is not concerned with the environment and is solely interested on how to produce more economic benefits. Sustainable development realizes that we need to have a growing economy but that we also need to avoid exploiting our resources for future generations.
Canada’s Constitution provides little guidance when considering environmental matters. It is often left up to various groups including the governments and lawyers to take what they can from the constitution and attempt to interpret it. The constitution does lay out some specifics for federal and provincial jurisdiction, however at the time the constitution was written there was little consideration for environmental matters. Summarizing what falls under provincial jurisdiction includes, the sale of lands owned by the province as well as their management and natural tree resources on them. The provincial government is also responsible for municipalities within it which they can delegate responsibilities to. They are also given jurisdiction over agriculture within the province as well as all forestry resources, non-renewable natural resources and electrical energy. The province has control over local works and undertakings, however not including any transportation or communication means between the province and another, ships between the province and another country, or any works that benefit the country or two or more provinces. Matters that fall into the jurisdiction of the federal government includes anything that is not specifically under provincial jurisdiction. It also includes Indians and their land, fisheries, both coastal and inland, navigation and shipping, including all beacons, buoys, lighthouses and Sable Island, as well as the regulation duties of trade and commerce. Jurisdiction over the environment is therefore complex, from what is listed above there is no clear black and white for where matters fall. There are often disagreements between the governments as to who should be responsible, this is particularly true when it involves natural resources. There has been conflicts in the past with issues like pipelines that fall under federal jurisdiction because they gross provincial lines, however local governments should also be a part of decision making. Environmental policies have been improving in both levels of government and will continue to, hopefully in time these issues will be resolved and there will be set guidelines for these matters.
The political Green Party can campaign for votes in order to win seats and have a voice to make changes. It has not been an easy road for this party as it usually does not obtain a high percentage of votes in the population. However, once a seat is gained by the party they have a chance to push the other parties into implementing more ‘green’ initiatives. On the other hand, non-government environmental organizations do not have this opportunity. They can try to show the public how being more environmentally friendly can benefit us all and raise money and awareness for various causes. When it comes down to the decision making inside the government non-government environmental organizations have no say. As mentioned before it has been a hard road for the Green Party within Canada to obtain many votes, there are a few reasons that may be contributing to this. During the campaign, there are usually key issues that each party has a specific opinion on, a lot of this issues are not addressed by the Green Party, they simply are not on either side and usually most of the public is on one side or the other and will place there vote accordingly. With a few of these key issues they are also not consistent with which side they are on across all the parties. These reasons contribute to why the public is more likely to vote for a party with a concrete opinion on most of the main issues and sticks with this opinion through generations. Hopefully in the future parties continue to bring in green initiatives onto their platforms as well as the Green Party gaining more seats.