Given the billions in
stimulus dollars that will be spent in coming years on infrastructure projects, demand for planners is likely to grow in lockstep
with the flow of
federal and provincial
dollars to social housing, transit, public spaces and recreational amenities.
The
federal government made a stunning 179,000 «categorical exclusions» that allowed corporations — many
with disastrous environmental records — to use
stimulus funding to sponsor projects without submitting them to review under the nation's «most basic form of environmental oversight», a new report from the Center for Public Integrity found.Making matters worse, many of these projects were approved under the auspices of being «green» or clean energy projects (many more are transportation - related)-- thus helping to comprise the billions of
dollars in funding for green projects that sent progressives» hearts aflutter two years ago.