So, we're doomed, is what he's saying.
Apr. 2nd, 2007 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojPrime Minister Harper says Canada will be as green as Canadians want it to be
Thu Mar 22, 6:55 PM
By Dene Moore
MONTREAL (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will be as green as Canadians want it to be.
Harper, who is poised for a possible federal election this spring, reiterated Thursday that his government will announce mandatory targets to reduce emissions in the coming weeks.
"Canada will, for the first time ever, create national, mandatory emissions targets for greenhouse gases and air pollution across major industrial sectors," Harper told delegates at an environmental trade show in Montreal.
Harper said consumption must be balanced with conservation.
"Yet, no population of any country will support an environmental plan that robs them of their jobs and destroys their living standards, even in the short term," Harper said.
The prime minister said the government has an important role to play in resolving the current environmental crisis.
"But business and government can only do so much," Harper said.
"In the long run, Canada will be as green as Canadians want it to be."
Polls show the environment, and climate change in particular, were among the most important issues to Canadians and the minority Conservative government has undergone a green revolution since taking power.
The Conservatives have been working hard to paint themselves green and Monday's budget included $4.5 billion for environmental spending.
Last month, Harper announced a $1.5 billion eco trust fund to help provinces pay for environmental projects and his Conservative government tabled its own Clean Air Act.
Now the act is stalled in the House of Commons, with all three federal opposition parties demanding amendments before they'll help it pass into law.
Chief among the demands is that the bill enshrine the emissions targets set out in the Kyoto protocol, which the Conservatives have rejected as impossible to achieve.
The only reduction target included in the bill is a 40-to-60 per cent emissions cut by 2050.
In Toronto, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called the act "a joke."
Appearing before a Commons committee in Ottawa on Thursday, Environment Minister John Baird dodged questions about whether he could accept the Kyoto targets.
Baird said he's looking at what can be done to cut global emissions after 2012, when the treaty is set to expire.
"I support continuing efforts to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions," he said, without mentioning Kyoto.
Baird said the upcoming emissions targets will be more stringent than other countries.
Hugh Wilkins, a lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said Canada needs absolute emission caps - an option the Conservatives have rejected before.
But Wilkins said Canadians know that failing to act poses a much greater threat to their economy and way of life.
"People realize that if we don't take strong action now, we're going to suffer the types of economic and lifestyle problems that Harper's talking about."
And also:
Canada government: climate bill is Liberal hot air
Fri Mar 30, 10:33 AM
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's conservative government blasted as "cheap politics" opposition bids Thursday to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"This is clearly more about politics than it is about serving the environment," John Baird, the environment minister, told journalists, referring to amendments made by left wing opposition parties to the Clean Air Act.
The minister, visibly ruffled, said the opposition's moves amounted to "cheap politics, theatrics and a lot of talk."
The governing conservatives presented in October, 2006 their bill to reduce Canada's carbon emissions by 45-65 percent by 2050, but it was panned by the three opposition parties for setting no deadlines on cuts before 2020.
The conservatives agreed to have a special committee work on changes to the bill, which was then re-drafted by the opposition in a version that would make Canada meet the international Kyoto Protocol for reducing carbon emissions.
The Kyoto targets commit countries to reduce emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's ruling conservatives say the targets, agreed to by the previous Liberal government, are unattainable.
The leader of one of the opposition parties, Jack Layton of the Neo-Democrats (NDP), said the amendments made "a piece of legislation that can put Canada into the forefront in dealing with the climate change crisis."
"Now what we have is one of the best pieces of legislation that Canadians could possibly put together. Let's hope that the prime minister will respect the work that was done and find a way to make sure that it's implemented."
"I have real problems with the change of this bill," Baird said. "We'll take a period of time to look at the entirety of the damage that the Liberals have done, and make a call in the future," he added.
"I can tell you that I'm not happy."
The Liberal party this month also unveiled a plan to fine polluters who release more than their share of greenhouse gases, if it is returned to power in 2008.
Direct link to article #1
Direct link to article #1
This whole issue pisses me off. I hate agreeing with the Conservatives over anything, and I think they're showing they don't really want to make any real changes/sacrifices over the environment, but gah, the self-righteous Liberal posturing over this? Is nauseating. They had more than ten years to do something, anything, to get us to live up to our Kyoto obligations. That the Conservatives don't put the environment at the top of their commitments is just part of what they are, and you have to respect them for that. Besides, we knew that when we elected them. The Liberals? Have no excuse. IMHO.
Ah well.
Thu Mar 22, 6:55 PM
By Dene Moore
MONTREAL (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will be as green as Canadians want it to be.
Harper, who is poised for a possible federal election this spring, reiterated Thursday that his government will announce mandatory targets to reduce emissions in the coming weeks.
"Canada will, for the first time ever, create national, mandatory emissions targets for greenhouse gases and air pollution across major industrial sectors," Harper told delegates at an environmental trade show in Montreal.
Harper said consumption must be balanced with conservation.
"Yet, no population of any country will support an environmental plan that robs them of their jobs and destroys their living standards, even in the short term," Harper said.
The prime minister said the government has an important role to play in resolving the current environmental crisis.
"But business and government can only do so much," Harper said.
"In the long run, Canada will be as green as Canadians want it to be."
Polls show the environment, and climate change in particular, were among the most important issues to Canadians and the minority Conservative government has undergone a green revolution since taking power.
The Conservatives have been working hard to paint themselves green and Monday's budget included $4.5 billion for environmental spending.
Last month, Harper announced a $1.5 billion eco trust fund to help provinces pay for environmental projects and his Conservative government tabled its own Clean Air Act.
Now the act is stalled in the House of Commons, with all three federal opposition parties demanding amendments before they'll help it pass into law.
Chief among the demands is that the bill enshrine the emissions targets set out in the Kyoto protocol, which the Conservatives have rejected as impossible to achieve.
The only reduction target included in the bill is a 40-to-60 per cent emissions cut by 2050.
In Toronto, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called the act "a joke."
Appearing before a Commons committee in Ottawa on Thursday, Environment Minister John Baird dodged questions about whether he could accept the Kyoto targets.
Baird said he's looking at what can be done to cut global emissions after 2012, when the treaty is set to expire.
"I support continuing efforts to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions," he said, without mentioning Kyoto.
Baird said the upcoming emissions targets will be more stringent than other countries.
Hugh Wilkins, a lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said Canada needs absolute emission caps - an option the Conservatives have rejected before.
But Wilkins said Canadians know that failing to act poses a much greater threat to their economy and way of life.
"People realize that if we don't take strong action now, we're going to suffer the types of economic and lifestyle problems that Harper's talking about."
And also:
Canada government: climate bill is Liberal hot air
Fri Mar 30, 10:33 AM
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's conservative government blasted as "cheap politics" opposition bids Thursday to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"This is clearly more about politics than it is about serving the environment," John Baird, the environment minister, told journalists, referring to amendments made by left wing opposition parties to the Clean Air Act.
The minister, visibly ruffled, said the opposition's moves amounted to "cheap politics, theatrics and a lot of talk."
The governing conservatives presented in October, 2006 their bill to reduce Canada's carbon emissions by 45-65 percent by 2050, but it was panned by the three opposition parties for setting no deadlines on cuts before 2020.
The conservatives agreed to have a special committee work on changes to the bill, which was then re-drafted by the opposition in a version that would make Canada meet the international Kyoto Protocol for reducing carbon emissions.
The Kyoto targets commit countries to reduce emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's ruling conservatives say the targets, agreed to by the previous Liberal government, are unattainable.
The leader of one of the opposition parties, Jack Layton of the Neo-Democrats (NDP), said the amendments made "a piece of legislation that can put Canada into the forefront in dealing with the climate change crisis."
"Now what we have is one of the best pieces of legislation that Canadians could possibly put together. Let's hope that the prime minister will respect the work that was done and find a way to make sure that it's implemented."
"I have real problems with the change of this bill," Baird said. "We'll take a period of time to look at the entirety of the damage that the Liberals have done, and make a call in the future," he added.
"I can tell you that I'm not happy."
The Liberal party this month also unveiled a plan to fine polluters who release more than their share of greenhouse gases, if it is returned to power in 2008.
Direct link to article #1
Direct link to article #1
This whole issue pisses me off. I hate agreeing with the Conservatives over anything, and I think they're showing they don't really want to make any real changes/sacrifices over the environment, but gah, the self-righteous Liberal posturing over this? Is nauseating. They had more than ten years to do something, anything, to get us to live up to our Kyoto obligations. That the Conservatives don't put the environment at the top of their commitments is just part of what they are, and you have to respect them for that. Besides, we knew that when we elected them. The Liberals? Have no excuse. IMHO.
Ah well.
