The Tories' Green Gift For My Old Age, And For Future Generations

OTTAWA (CP) - The Conservatives released the centrepiece of their "made-in-Canada" environment agenda Thursday - a Clean Air Act that would cut greenhouse gas emissions in half, but not until 2050.

The bill, aimed at dispelling the notion that Tories are soft on the environment, sets no short-term targets for cutting greenhouse emissions. In the long term, it says the government will seek to cut emissions by 45 to 65 per cent by 2050.

So, I have this to look forward to in my old age. The ice caps may melt, the seas may rise, lowlands and islands may be flooded out, and the prairies may be turned to desert, but all the while I'll be comforted by the thought that when I am in my dotage, we'll be contributing only half as much to these catastrophes as we were 44 years earlier.

The idea that this government can make a commitment to targets 44 years down the road without making any shorter-term ones is any case totally preposterous. In fact, it amounts to no real commitment at all. This government can't make promises about how things will be in 44 years if it can't commit to any specific targeted actions now. What this in fact appears to amount to is the hope that sometime, someone will get around to tackling this seriously. "Just not us, and not now."