The Conservative government will table the new Clean Air Act to address air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the Parliament next week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday.
Few details have been unveiled so far, but Harper said the Act will allow the government to replace the current "ad hoc, patchwork system" with "clear, consistent, and comprehensive national standards." He said it would move industry from voluntary compliance with environmental goals to "strict enforcement," and would create a "holistic approach that doesn't treat the related issues of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in isolation."
"We have a plan that is going to replace rhetoric with results, a plan that is going to move from short-term headlines to long-term progress, a plan that is going to get things done on the environment," said Harper.
Harper said the details of the regulations will be worked out after extensive consultations with provincial governments and the industry.
The plan has so far been criticized for putting most of the focus on smog reduction and not enough on climate change. Critics have also said that laws already exist to address environmental issues and the new Clean Air Act will only delay action.
"We already have all the legislative tools in place under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to reduce pollution, air emissions, particulate matter, as well as greenhouse gases," says Emilie Moorhouse, an atmosphere and energy campaigner at the Sierra Club.
However, Shannon Haggarty, a spokesperson for Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says the policies adopted under the Liberals were not effective since they were based on Kyoto targets that were set arbitrarily and did not focus on cleaning up the air.
"We're looking at things, working on things together in terms of greenhouse gasses and clean air, rather than just focusing on one or the other," says Haggarty.
In a report released in late September, Federal Environment Commissioner Johanne Gelinas criticized the previous Liberal government for failure to effectively curb greenhouse gas emissions and urged the Conservative government to massively boost its efforts to address the issue of climate change.
Kyoto Targets
Although the Conservatives have made clear that they don't intend to walk away from the Kyoto Protocol, they have stood firm in their position that Canada cannot meet its commitments under the agreement.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international legally binding agreement that requires member nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions below their 1990 levels over a five-year commitment period from 2008 to 2012. Canada, which holds the presidency of a key U.N. body overseeing the Protocol this year, has emission levels 27 percent in excess of the l990 level, a far distance from its six percent reduction target.
So far, no country other than Canada has abandoned their Kyoto targets, although some are also struggling in meeting their emission targets.
Japan, with a six percent reduction target, is currently emitting green house gasses 13 percent in excess of the 1990 levels.
The European Union, which has unevenly allocated its emission targets between member-nations with an overall goal of 8 percent reduction, is also far from meeting its target. But it has reduced emissions. Data from the European Environment Agency (EAA) shows that the emission levels in 2004 were 0.9 percent lower than the 1990 benchmark.
Some European countries such as Sweden and the U.K. have had more success meeting their targets. The U.K., which is required to reduce its emissions by 12.5 percent below its 1990 level, has in fact exceeded its target, although the gap has narrowed from 14.4 percent below in 2002 to 12.6 percent below in 2004.
Some critics are worried that if Canada walks away from its Kyoto targets it could lead other countries to not respect their commitments either, and hurt post-Kyoto agreements.
"We should be a leader in Kyoto, and so far the Conservative government hasn't stepped up to the plate to make us a leader," says Camille Labchuk, a spokesperson for the Green Party of Canada.
A recent poll by the international environmental research firm McAllister Opinion Research shows that 77 percent of Canadians want Canada to meet or exceed its Kyoto targets.
Last week, the three opposition parties outvoted the government on a private member bill introduced by Liberal MP Pablo Rodriquez that requires the government to meet its Kyoto targets. The bill, which passed second reading, will now be reviewed the Commons environment committee.
Also last week, Bloc Quebecois MP Bernard Bigras handed Environment Minister Ambrose a petition signed by 80,000 Canadians that asked the government to meet the Kyoto Protocol commitments.
Under the Kyoto Agreement, a party that fails to meet its emissions target will lose eligibility to sell credits under the emissions trading system. It will also be obligated to make up the difference plus a 30 percent penalty in the second commitment period that comes after 2012.
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