Canada and Australia - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 130

provinces retained their authority over minerals, water, land, and forests
as well as property, civil rights, and education.
The new federation needed a new capital city. Ottawa was a logical site,
on the boundary between Quebec and Ontario, the border between the
French and the English. Ten years earlier, the small lumber town had been
designated as a compromise location for the capital for the combined
province of Upper and Lower Canada, then designated West and East.
The site is on the Ottawa River at Chaudières Falls. The river had been
the chief route to the west for explorers and fur traders. The neo-gothic
style of the Parliament building echoed the British Parliament. The City
Beautiful Movement influenced the city in erecting imposing government
buildings, avenues, and parks.
At the national level, the most important governmental agency is
Environment Canada, established in 1970. Its name reflects a Canadian
method of bilingualism for agencies with their names being nearly iden-
tical in English and French. Its major divisions are the Environmental
Protection Service responsible for air pollution control, the Conservation
Service responsible for water, and the Meteorological Service. It has five
regional divisions: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairie, and the Pacific.
With 4,700 employees, the agency enforces the laws, controls dangerous
chemicals, gives scientific advice, and funds local programs. It also pro-
tects species at risk and handles global warming matters. The Minister of
the Environment sits in the cabinet.
Parks Canada, under the jurisdiction of the same minister, manages
the 41 national parks, in addition to a number of historic sites. The larg-
est is Wood Buffalo Park, which is bigger than Switzerland. Two of the
most famous are Banff and Jasper in the Rocky Mountains. All three
are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The newest is Ukkusiksalik Park in
Nunavut, a semi-autonomous Native People territory carved out of the
Northwest Territories in 1999. Several parks cooperate with American
parks across the border. Waterton Lakes in Alberta adjoins Glacier
Park in Montana, Kluane in the Yukon adjoins Wrangell-Saint Elias in
Alaska, and Ivvavik in the Yukon adjoins the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge in Alaska.
Natural Resources Canada is the agency concerned with natural
resources, water power, energy, minerals, metals, and forests. The Forest
Service and sectors for earth sciences, minerals and energy are its major
divisions. The ministry is responsible for survey, water power regulation,
oil and gas regulation, and mining.