Making History: Tough New Federal Laws to Cut Air Emissions

May 2, 2007

When I write my weekly newspaper columns, in essence, I am “writing home”. And what I love about home is that I can “say it like it is”, as opposed to in Ottawa, where my Parliamentary duties keep me much of the time, and where people choose their words so very carefully.

So, I’ll say it here … the orchestrated outrage by the federal Liberals and Al Gore over the Conservative Government’s plan to reduce air emissions is hypocritical hogwash! Okay, maybe I’m still being a bit politically correct because I could have said “horse----”!

Please indulge me this week if I seem overly partisan. However, all of the misinformation and outright untruths being bandied about by self-professed environmentalists has prevented the facts about our regulated environmental plan from getting to you.

And the facts are this. The Conservative plan will reduce air pollution IN HALF by 2015, just eight years from now, AND it will reduce greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2020, just 13 years from now. BY LAW!

Contrast that with the former Liberal government under which emissions rose to a whopping 35 percent over Kyoto targets during their 13 years in power. As for Al Gore, who spoke out before he’d even been briefed on what was in our Conservative plan, he was Vice President of a U.S. Administration that didn’t even come close to the tough environmental measures or results we’re proposing.

For the first time in Canadian history, a federal government has set mandatory, regulated targets for air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial sectors.

In other words, these reductions in air emissions will be enforced under the provisions of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Failure by regulated companies to meet any of the requirements set out by these new regulations will be an offence.

The Conservative Government is taking concrete action to improve our environment but we refuse to plunge the nation into a recession to do it. We recognize that industries wanting to improve environmental practices often find it cost-prohibitive. That’s why our targets are realistic – we don’t want to bankrupt the same Canadian companies that employ millions of Canadians.

And that’s why, as part of this initiative, we are establishing measures to help companies meet their targets. This includes in-house reductions, contributions to a capped technology fund, domestic emissions trading and offsets and access to the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. Companies that have already reduced their greenhouse gas emissions prior to 2006 will be rewarded.

In addition to these air emissions regulations, we’re regulating the efficiency of cars and light duty trucks, commercial appliances and residential gas-fired furnaces. Plus, incandescent light bulbs will be banned as of 2012.

We cannot meet Canada’s 2008 Kyoto emission reduction target in just eight months after the Liberals took us further and further away from it over 13 years. All political bias aside, I can truly tell you that this environmental plan is balanced, realistic and achievable. If you take a look at it yourself, I believe you’ll feel rather optimistic about Canada’s environmental future. Go to www.ecoaction.gc.ca.