Conservatives spoke honestly about Kyoto and China

Now the truth comes out!

Stephane, meet my dog
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

How amusing to watch the federal Liberals and their new leader, Stephane Dion, strutting about claiming to be great defenders of the environment and the Kyoto accord.

Back in the real world, the only people ready to let them get away with a knee-slapper like that are way too many members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

Let's review the Liberal record on Kyoto as opposed to the Liberal rhetoric.

Desperately looking for a legacy other than AdScam, then prime minister Jean Chretien signed onto Kyoto in 1998 and had his Liberal government ratify it in 2002, shortly before he left office.

Under the treaty, Chretien committed Canada to reducing our man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- said to be responsible for global warming -- to 6% under 1990 levels by 2012.

The actual Liberal record by the time they were booted from office this year?

Canada's greenhouse gas emissions were up by at least 24% (the Conservatives say it's now 35%) compared to 1990.

You know how Chretien gets a big kick out of trashing George Bush and the Americans on the environment?

Yeah, well, the Americans have done a better job of controlling the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions than Canada under the Grits, despite never ratifying Kyoto.

In fact, they did almost twice as good a job.

Between 1990 and 2003, greenhouse gas emissions grew by 24% in Canada, compared to 13.5% in the U.S.

Despite this, former prime minister Paul Martin went roaring into a UN climate change conference in Montreal a year ago declaring that the U.S, lacked a "global conscience" in refusing to ratify Kyoto.

Only an election-crazed Liberal would make a statement like that, knowing it would blow up in his face as soon as anyone examined the actual records of Canada and the U.S. in controlling the growth of greenhouse gases.

Either that, or Martin, that great defender of Kyoto, simply didn't know the numbers.

In any event, that UN climate conference in Montreal was chaired by Stephane Dion, then Martin's environment minister, now the new Liberal leader.

In that capacity, Dion received a satiric "fossil" award from environmental groups at the conference of the same type as Conservative Environment Minister Rona Ambrose received at this year's version of the same event in Nairobi. So why have you heard so much about Ambrose's "award", so little about Dion's?

I attribute it to the almost mystical grip the out-of-power Liberals seem to hold over far too many members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, who apparently think that just because the Liberals say something, it must be true.

One gallery member not prone to this madness is our own Alan Findlay.

His Nov. 17 article in the Sun headlined "Grits have their own fossil award" pointed out that the Conservatives in 2006 were being attacked for failing to take climate change seriously in the same way the Liberals were in 2005 at the same conference by the same groups.

Or, as Greenpeace's Dave Martin put it: "In some ways, a pox on both their houses. The Liberals deserved the fossil award in many ways just as much as the Harper government deserves it now."

Then again, Dion did name his dog "Kyoto."

In reality, there's every indication the Conservative policy toward Kyoto is picking up exactly where the Liberal one left off -- paying pious lip-service to the treaty while doing nothing to enforce it.

Indeed, if you think Kyoto is the most important issue facing Canada, don't vote Liberal or Conservative in the next election -- vote for the Greens.

Personally I'm committing myself to another election promise the Liberals broke -- fixing health care for a generation. Remember?

Inspired by Dion, I am proving my commitment to this issue by naming my dog "MRI."

Nice one...SJ-24.

And the cherry on top:

MARRIAGE VOTE: Paul Martin rushes back from China
Jetlagged ex-PM speaks at victory party

http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.asp ... PLATE_ID=1

Hrmm I wonder what an MP from Montreal is doing in China?

This guy is the biggest scum the liberals ever had, well next to PET.

He has no business in China that deals with his little are of Quebec UNLESS it's to do with MS and Power Corp's little joke on Canada called Kyoto.

He’s made one showing in the house since the ass kicking he got, and where does he have to jet back from ? CHINA, all you Liberal supporters listen up, these people are playing you like pawns, they are setting their families up for generations to come and you guys are buying it hook line and sinker. WISE UP.

Here's a thought for the liberals.

Each African immigrant you integrate into Canada has the same global environmental impact as adding 600 people to Africa. So which sacred cow do you sacrifice? Immigration? The Environment?