The fallout from the Conservatives’ report on the economic cost of implementing bill C-288 has been interesting. As expected, the opposition and enviro-cultists like Suzuki have ripped into Baird and the Conservatives. Friday’s question period started off with a Liberal-Bloq pile on of Baird, lead by David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.) accusing the Conservatives of trying to:
…scare Canadians with a report based on bogus assumptions and extreme views of the Kyoto accord.
This assertion is ironic because the environmental religion led by Al Gore has been trying to scare the world with predictions of cataclysmic disasters "based on bogus assumptions and extreme views". I guess they would know a scare tactic when they see one.
The enviro-kool-aid-brigade was made up of McGuinty, Rodriguez (Lib), Guay (BQ) and Bigras (BQ). They accused the Conservatives of everything from twisting the arms of the economists that supported the economic report to inflating the tax cost to corporations, with a healthy dose of damaging Quebec thrown in.
Baird shot back with Liberal inaction on Kyoto since 1997, the opposition not costing out C-288 before passing it and the
The cost of inaction is that we are forced to do the work of 15 years in just 8 months. That is the real problem.
Baird referred a number of times to the impending Conservative plan to tackle
harmful greenhouse gas emissions
It is worrying that the Conservative government has adopted the opinion that CO2 emissions are harmful. There is no evidence of this. CO2 is a naturally occurring molecule emitted by plants and animals alike. If you don’t like CO2 emissions, stop breathing. That is also impossible, just like Canada meeting its Kyoto targets in 8 months.
Even more worrying is Baird’s assertion that the Conservative’s will
regulate industry
for greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, Canada is riding high economically, regulating CO2 emissions will be a huge cost to industry, however they choose to meet the regulations. China and other developing countries are not part of Kyoto and do not have to regulate CO2 emissions. In fact, these countries have little to no environment regulations at all. Canada has to compete with these countries in the current global economy. We are shooting ourselves in the foot over a problem that does not exist.
Others have weighed in on the issue also:
Chantal Hébert of the Toronto Star agrees that the Conservatives and the opposition seem to be on a collision course over the environment. It should be interesting with bill C-30, the new, improved Clean Air Act looming on the horizon.
From the sounds of it, the differences between the Harper government and the opposition on climate change are irreconcilable.
Andrew Coyne of the National Post thinks that Baird may have a point. It is a good read. He even puts together some numbers to support Baird’s Argument.
The key assumption is that the bulk of the required reductions -- 75% -- would have to be achieved domestically, rather than by buying emissions credits abroad. We'll get to that assumption in a second, but the implications if you accept it are stark. At 770 megatonnes per year, we are now about 36% above the target set out in the Kyoto protocol: 6% below 1990 levels, or 563 Mt.
The deadline for meeting this target is not, as commonly reported, 2012. Rather, it is 2008 to 2012: the target is defined as the average annual emissions over that period. Yet emissions are currently projected to grow another 10% over the next five years, to roughly 850 Mt. So it isn't just a matter of somehow cutting 200 Mt out of emissions by next year, but of cutting nearly 300 Mt by 2012 --an average reduction of 33% from the baseline forecast. If we fall short of that target in the first year, we have to exceed it in subsequent years.
Finally, Jeff Watson (MP, Essex – CPC) , believes that implementing C-288 will kill Canada’s auto industry.
Jeff Watson, today panned the Liberals' job killing Kyoto bill, C-288, "as the death knell for Essex county's auto industry and called on the Liberal Opposition - and its nominated candidates - to explain why they want to kill auto jobs in Essex and across Canada".
|