Kyoto clock keeps ticking, Conservatives keep kicking

Stephen Harper has 6o days to devise a plan for Canada meet its Kyoto obligations after a Liberal bill forcing his Conservatives to honour the international accord swept through the House of Commons today.

Immediately after agreeing to honour the bill, Harper implied that it will be ineffective because the bill has no plan of action in it (sounding like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black).

Speculation that Harper might try to circumvent the bill is mounting after his repeated attempts to kill it in its infancy and declarations that the Kyoto Protocol's six per cent emissions drop from 1990 levels by 2012 are unattainable and destructive to the economy.

Ironically, despite the Conservatives' reluctance to commit to the environment, the issue could actually help them in the next election, says pollster Greg Lyle.

The Conservatives and Liberals are neck and neck in the polls right now, but public concern about the environment, an issue the Liberals hope to make a top priority in the looming election, might actually help the Conservatives because it could split centre-left votes between the Greens, the NDP and the Liberals.

"They don't have to be seen as the best, they simply have to not be seen as bad. If they can do that with their target vote, then they're fine," says Lyle.

Now, the argument that John Baird was appointed Minister of the Environment to "neutralize" the issue, by giving the appearance that Conservatives are taking action on climate change seems to be even more persuasive. It seems that the Conservatives are poised to succeed in the polls by doing nothing but publicly blame the Liberals and hope voters defect to the Green party instead.