As Canada Turns ‘Green’, Its Conservative Fallow

The party recently introduced a new environmental bill and replaced a controversial environment minister from oil-producing Alberta.

March 19, 2007

Canada’s views on global warming, pollutions and the environment are changing. The idea of the economy first, the environment second are no longer accepted.  Canadians know that we need to start acting on issues like CO2, NOx, SOx and mercury. Airborne Clean Energy is excited to be at the forefront with a solution for this growing concern about our environment.

The following is the relative information from the article “As Canada Turns ‘Green’, Its Conservative Fallow” by Fred Langan.

TORONTO - Canada's Conservative Party has taken on a new shade of green.
Once hostile to the idea that man-made greenhouse gases can cause global warming, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government is now eagerly trying to prove its green credentials.

In recent months, the Conservatives have introduced a new environmental bill, and replaced a controversial environment minister who hails from oil-producing Alberta. The prime minister now says he will respect the Kyoto Accord, which Canada signed under the former Liberal government.

Critics say that Harper Conservatives underestimated the environment as a political issue when they first came to power in January 2006. Now, Harper and new Environment Minister John Baird are more conciliatory and talk about climate change and greenhouse gases, shifting in policy to a stance in tune with the Canadian public.

According to the latest polls from the Environics Research Group of Toronto, Canadians are more concerned about the environment than unemployment, the economy, or war and terrorism. "The sense of public concern is being spurred both by unnerving temperatures – in our case a balmy winter rather than a hot summer," says Amy Langstaff, a researcher at Environics. "It does seem as though public opinion in Canada has turned a corner."

Mr. Baird acknowledges that Canadians want the government to do more in regard to the environment. "We've announced major policies from industrial pollution, action on greenhouse gases, and the Hydrogen Highway in British Columbia," he says.

And, he says, the Conservatives will be able to overcome the skepticism that is meeting the Conservatives new, greener tack. "I understand people are cynical. We'll be judged by our actions, not our talk. The Liberals under Stephane Dion [then environment minister, now Liberal leader] did nothing on Kyoto."

Green initiatives will probably be part of the government's new budget, which is to be released Monday, and could result in spring elections if Conservatives cannot gain enough support to pass the document.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0319/p04s01-woam.html