The press spokesman for Environment Minister John Baird did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Later in the day, that little Kyoto bill, that the Conservatives are so desperate to ignore comes up again, this time in court:
An environmental group is taking the Conservative government to court for not meeting its obligations under a recently passed climate-change law.
Friends of the Earth filed an application for judicial review in Federal Court on Wednesday, with the help of Toronto lawyer Chris Paliare and Ecojustice.
The group charges that Environment Minister John Baird is ignoring the rule of law by failing to comply with legislation that requires the government meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol and submit a plan illustrating how it would do so. The Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act was passed with the support of the opposition in June.
Beatrice Olivastri of Friends of the Earth says that just as a deadbeat dad would be forced to provide money to his children, so too should a judge order the federal government live up to its legal obligations.
Friends of the Earth had filed another application against the government in Federal Court earlier in the year, alleging the government was violating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act by not living up to Kyoto. That case has been abandoned in favour of the new one based on the more specific Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.
8 comments:
It'll be rather amusing to see what the Conservatives do if the Judge (and subsequent appeal courts) rules in favour of the environmental group.
They can claim to ignore the will of Parliament and not abide by this bill... but it'll be a tad harder to ignore if the courts say the same thing.
I wonder how many other countries that are "leading the world" are being taken to court?
Any idiot organization can take someone to court. Winning is a totally different matter!
Spending is cut on the Canadian Wildlife Service.
Gee...I hope I can sleep tonight.
"Any idiot organization can take someone to court"
Are you referring to the Cons decision to go to court over the Canadian Wheat Board?
"Spending is cut on the Canadian Wildlife Service.
Gee...I hope I can sleep tonight."
The ignorant tend to achieve REM easier.
From the same CTV article,
Meanwhile, the NDP has said they are no longer fixated on the issue of the Kyoto targets, but instead would like the government to commit to a more stringent environmental plan.
Verrrrry interesting shift by Layton.
Layton has said the NDP will re-introduce the Clean Air Act, through a private members bill.
My wonder here is while the government should not be let off the hook, it is a bit late to meet our Kyoto targets, although we should be moving in the right direction, rather than wrong, so the Conservatives in fact may use this as an opportunity to argue the opposition wants to cripple the economy.
My view has always been to get as close as we can to the targets, and compensate for however much we miss them by larger targets in the second round.
"My view has always been to get as close as we can to the targets, and compensate for however much we miss them by larger targets in the second round."
Ditto. At the Nairobi meetings last year, other delegations spoke to Canada's predicament, an understanding that we would likely fail. That fact doesn't translate to abandoning outright, because as you say, we could make up after the fact. No one was about to tar and feather Canada is we came up short.
Post a Comment