Peterborough, ON - “Canada’s Clean Air Act is reaching its most critical stage and I believe that it is one of the most important pieces of legislation that is currently before Parliament.” states MP for Peterborough Riding, Dean Del Mastro.

“After hearing from 100 witnesses over the past month, the Opposition parties are submitting amendments which could derail our legislative effort to combat both climate change and the reduction of pollution in Canada.”

Of the possible amendments, MP Del Mastro is most concerned about the Opposition attempt to make the Kyoto target of 6% below 1990 levels by the average report year of 2010, the short-term target for industry and consumers to comply. On this subject, CAW leader Buzz Hargrove had this to say;

“[The Kyoto target] would be suicidal for our economy. If somebody were to come out tomorrow and say you have to reach the [Kyoto] objective that was laid out initially, immediately you’d almost have to shut down every major industry in the country from oil and gas to the airlines to the auto industry and that just doesn’t make sense … the [Kyoto] timelines obviously have to be adjusted to meet the new reality but I
think in principle and in theory that is the only way to go.”

Professor Mark Jaccard of Simon Fraser University, a longstanding advocate of action on greenhouse gas and smog, has expressed the same concern, he states; ”You would have to destroy one-third of the buildings and equipment in your economy in the next four years to meet the Kyoto target”.

Professor Jaccard added that there is one way to still comply – at least theoretically - by investing Canadian dollars in buying green credits overseas, but then identified the problem with this scenario. “Buying international credits in a four-year timeframe is virtually impossible because you have to buy it from someone. Someone somewhere has to have done some greenhouse gas reductions and we have to be able to verify that they did that. That is really difficult.”

With regard to this plan, MP Del Mastro states that there may not be enough credits left out there to comply.
China holds two-thirds of the small supply of available international credits and even if we were able to purchase those credits, it would mean Canadian industries don’t conform environmentally. Furthermore, China would increase its competitive advantage – China will get our jobs and we will end up deeper in environmental debt.

The previous government ratified Kyoto in 1997 knowing the arbitrary targets they set could not be met. Before their defeat in early 2006, they had had 8 years to implement it, 7 years with a majority government to impose their political will, 7 years with budget surpluses to help fund transition to the carbon constrained economy, and 6 years with the current regulatory tools under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA)that they say are enough to do the job.

By contrast, Canada’s New Government has produced results since taking office in early 2006. We are working
with the provinces through our $1.5 billion eco-Trust programs and through the nearly $1 billion announcement for public transit systems in the GTA. We are working with the oil and gas industry through our eco-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage Task Force to make Canada a clean energy superpower. We are also working on renewable energy sources with our $2 billion eco-Energy programs. Most of all we are working on a long-range commitment to greenhouse gas and pollution reduction through our Clean Air Act with realistic and achievable targets.

As Prime Minister Harper explains, “What the public wants to see is that we tackle this change by developing
technology in Canada that can make us a world leader. What our public does not want to see is us bring in regulations that would squelch economic activity in this country and simply transfer funds to other countries to export our jobs.”

Now, the danger rests with an Opposition that wants to take an extreme position on emissions without the responsibility that the government will bear. Binding us to the previous short-term targets and timelines is a mistake.

“I promise you…I am committed to real action on climate change and pollution reduction and I am committed to
doing it in a sensible way.” states MP Del Mastro. “Our dollars should be invested in transforming our industries to meet the long-range challenges of realizing a green economy – not the purchase of credits that will drive us deeper into environmental debt.”