John Baird's Inconvenient Truth

Last week, John Baird cited Al Gore during question period, but yesterday Gore said Baird misrepresented his comments as praise for the Conservatives action on climate change.

"Canada [is] once again providing leadership in the world, fighting above its weight class and showing moral authority to the rest of the world. That's what Canada's known for," Baird read to the House.

Then he continued, "do we know who said that yesterday? Al Gore."

Today Gore clarified that the statement was not made last week, but last summer and that his words were designed to encourage Harper not to abandon the Kyoto process.

But the Tories say it would be impossible for Canada to meet its 2012 target of a 6 percent reduction below 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

The country is currently hovering at 38 percent above its 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

While the Tories continue to deny their Kyoto obligations, they have decided to dole out $1.5 billion to the provinces, who have started taking action on their own.

The first $350 million has been earmarked for Quebec's Green Plan to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 2012. Premier Jean Charest said that the money places the province on track to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

Today B.C's Premier Gordon Campbell announced that the province will aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent under 1990 levels by 2020.

Tomorrow the House of Commons will take a final vote on a Liberal private member's bill that, if adopted, will force the government to devise an action plan to meet Kyoto.

Inconveniently, Baird's wrongful invocation of the patron saint of climate change coincided with the harsh truth that his government will quite possibly be forced into action on Kyoto despite its reluctance to do so.