WATCH: David Suzuki explains his goal to have environmental protection enshrined in the Constitution
David Suzuki’s latest proposal is a big one: amending the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to recognize the right to a healthy environment.
“Once you enshrine it, then the right to a healthy environment – the right to clean air, clean water, clean food – achieves a position of primacy just like the right to vote,” David Suzuki told Tom Clark in an interview on The West Block.
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He is crossing the country on the Blue Dot Tour, organized by the David Suzuki Foundation, to raise support for his proposed legislative changes.
Suzuki pointed to 110 countries that already have similar legislation in place. These countries, according to Suzuki, have better environmental records than Canada.
“We have to reassess everything we’re doing and think about the oil sands. Right now, we use air, water as if it’s free,” Suzuki said.
To reach Suzuki’s goal, the Constitution would have to be opened; seven out of ten provinces with more than 50% of the population would have to support the plan. Few politicians are eager to endorse such drastic change.
“I think we still live in a democracy. And in a democracy, the guys that are over there working are working for us,” Suzuki told Clark. “I thought they are public servants. We elect them to serve us. And now what I’m doing is I’m appealing to Canadians to tell the people we elect to office what we want.”
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