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For release: April 27, 2009

Two years and counting: Harper government’s climate change and air quality plan more promise than reality

(Ottawa) On the second anniversary of its launch, some of Canada’s leading environmental organizations say the Harper government has failed to deliver on its plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and air quality.

“It’s been almost three and a half years since the change of government, our emissions keep going up and Canadians are still waiting for real action on climate change from the federal government,” says Dale Marshall, climate change policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation. “How can it be that after all this time we still have no plan?”

Former environment minister John Baird unveiled the Conservative’s “Turning the Corner” strategy on April 26, 2007, promising an “aggressive plan” to cut greenhouse gases and air pollution and stating: “Canadians want action, they want it now and our government is delivering.” Since then the government has repeatedly missed its own deadlines for issuing the detailed regulations required to put substance and teeth into the strategy, and Canada’s total emissions have continued to climb. Current environment minister Jim Prentice now says the government will reveal the regulations sometime before next December’s UN conference in Copenhagen, Denmark at which a new global climate change agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol is slated to be reached.

“While Ottawa sits on its hands, Canadians are getting sick and dying. There's no other way to describe it," says Gideon Forman, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. "Last year, 21,000 Canadians died and 92,000 were admitted to emergency departments because of bad air. We need immediate government action.”

“Countries are working hard to complete a new global climate treaty by year’s end, but Canada is still coming to the table empty-handed,” adds Matthew Bramley, climate change director with The Pembina Institute. “Mr. Prentice has eight months to prove that Canada is finally serious about cutting greenhouse gas pollution.”

By comparison, in the U.S. the Obama administration has moved quickly to permit the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian government is planning to implement a cap-and-trade system just two-and-a-half years after taking office, and the UK recently passed the world’s first domestic climate change law that includes significant, legally-binding cuts to carbon emissions.

“While the Harper government dithers, other countries are acting,” says Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada. “As popular as President Obama is, and as seriously as he appears to be taking climate change, waiting for the U.S. to tell us what to do to fight global warming is not leadership.”

Climate Action Network Canada - Réseau action climat is a nation-wide coalition of 50 environmental, faith, development, aboriginal, health, and youth organizations committed to making action on climate change a reality.

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