A federal fund intended to direct industrial polluters’ fines to conservation instead let millions sit unused in an account managed by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department, say auditors. Proceeds in the Environmental Damages Fund include the largest fine ever levied, on Volkswagen..“Timing between awards received and funds disbursed has been growing,” said an Evaluation Of The Environmental Damages Fund. “The program’s annual closing balance is steadily increasing.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, Parliament established the Fund in 1995. It was to collect court fines for breach of the Fisheries Act, the Environmental Protection Act and other statutes and spend the proceeds on conservation..The Fund has since 2014 collected $249.6 million. Only $108.8 million was used for conservation, said Evaluation. The report complained of an “unnecessary administrative burden” on six employees who run the program and lack of federal oversight..“The revenue from awards and thus the funds available for disbursement has increased significantly in the last ten years,” wrote auditors. The Fund’s large balance was mainly due to the 2020 payment of $196.5 million by Volkswagen for breach of the Protection Act..“The increasing value of court awards is expected to continue,” said the report. “Internal interviewees raised concerns about the lack of capacity to deliver the Fund’s activities.”.Volkswagen settled on 60 breaches of federal law when it equipped “green” diesel cars with software that misrepresented nitrogen oxide emissions that were nine times the legal limit. The scheme was uncovered in 2014 by researchers conducting road tests at West Virginia University..VW in addition to $196.5 million in fines paid $17.5 million for misleading advertising in breach of the Competition Act and $2.39 billion in compensation to Canadians who bought Volkswagen diesels. The fine, the largest in Canada, was a fraction of what the German automaker paid in other countries for the same offence, witnesses told 2020 hearings of the Commons environment committee..“For what is arguably one of the worst environmental crimes ever committed in Canada the government’s enforcement by any reasonable measure was hesitant, weak and inadequate,” testified Muhannad Malas, program manager for Environmental Defence. “After launching its investigation in September 2015 it took more than four years for the federal government to charge and prosecute the company.”.Total VW payments in Canada were $2.6 billion. It compared to the equivalent of $32 billion in compensation and penalties in the United States..“This works out to about $55,000 per vehicle in the United States versus $1,500 per vehicle in Canada,” said Ben Sharpe, senior researcher with the International Council on Clean Transportation..“More transparency is needed to determine how Canada came to a settlement that resulted in significantly lower penalties on a per-vehicle basis versus the U.S.”
