Stephen Rees's blog

Richmond News

It is not often that i come across an editorial that I wholeheartedly agree with. Even rarer is one from the canada.com stable.  But today’s effort in the local News is quite remarkable. So i am going to reproduce all of it as printed.

Stephen Harper’s announcement last week that the world should scrap hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions raises an interesting question: Of our two leading federal parties, which has done more to accelerate global warming?

The Liberal Party of Canada, under the auspices of Jean Chrétien, hatched a plan and then did nothing; now the Conservative party, under the direction of our current prime minister, has hatched a plan specifically to do nothing.

In 1998, the Liberals committed to reduce Canada’s emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. They then watched happily as our output skyrocketed 24 per cent.

When the Conservatives took power last year, they lambasted the Liberals for their lack of action, promising to take decisive steps in the form of a “Made-in-Canada” solution.

Last week, Harper made it clear that that solution will be to allow emissions to continue increasing. He called for intensity targets, whereby polluters can release ever-greater quantities of greenhouse gases each year, as long as they make a certain amount of money doing so.

Harper’s deliberate acceleration in the wrong direction makes his government a strong contender for the prize, although his predecessor’s complete lack of effort on the issue has certainly given him a run for his money. The contest may be too close to call.

Our provincial government’s distant deadlines and toothless resolutions could end up trumping them both.