Green politicking

Green action at the federal level is doing little to tap into the public's new found environmental consciousness.

In fact, our government has been so slow to act that, embarrassingly, even American bloggers are starting to blame Canadians for climate change.

In the wake of the IPCC global climate change report, Minister of the Environment, John Baird, asked parties to put aside their partisanship in the name of climate change.

But in a subsequent CTV question period, Baird violated on his own plea bargain by taking shots at Liberal leader Stephane Dion's environmental record.

"Voluntary good hopes and wishes really haven't accomplished much - we've seen that over the past 10 years with the previous Liberal government and Stephane Dion," Baird proclaimed.

Yesterday, Parliament passed a motion tabled by Dion's Liberals, that backed the minority government into a legislative corner to recognize that:

• our climate is changing because of human activity and is the most serious ecological threat of our time;
• that we must meet our international commitments to Kyoto; and
• that Canada must have a comprehensive plan to address climate change that includes strong regulations for industry and a cap and trade system

In response, Harper declared today that, “in the weeks ahead, for the first time ever, Canada's new government will move to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial sectors.”

Once again, the Conservative response to yet another indication that severe climate change is occurring now and increased pressure by the public and Parliament for action now was to declare that they are in the process of getting ready to act soon, instead of actually acting.

How can the opposition parties be expected to put partisanship aside when their role is to criticize the government, especially when the government declines to act on an issue as fragile as our environment?