Ed Whittingham, Executive
Director, made the following statement in response to today's release of the
Conservative Party's election platform:
"The Conservative Party came to today's announcement with a five-year track
record of failing to meaningfully tackle greenhouse gas pollution and avoiding
federal responsibility for oilsands development. The result is that Canada now
risks falling further behind other countries in capitalizing on the rapidly growing
global clean energy market.
"Today's
platform would do nothing to reverse these trends."
On renewable energy and
efficiency
"While
it does contain one-year funding for home retrofits that was announced in this
year's budget, the platform misses the opportunity to position Canada to support
a stable and competitive clean energy industry.
"It's
also worth noting that the claim that the government has 'introduced
regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production of
electricity' is incorrect. The government has stated that it plans to introduce
such regulations, but they are not in place yet."
On climate change
"Heading
into this election, Stephen Harper's government had not implemented the key
climate policies needed to cut Canada's greenhouse gas pollution. By failing to
commit to carbon pricing, sectoral regulations or other new emission-reduction
policies, today's platform is a recipe for growing greenhouse gas pollution in
Canada.
"While
the platform mentions Canada's national greenhouse gas emission target for
2020, it does not commit to meet it. Without new policies, Environment Canada
projects that emissions will be higher
in 2020 than they are today, putting Canada on track to miss its Copenhagen
Accord target by nearly 30 per cent. Today's platform would not reverse that
trend."
On oilsands development
"This
platform fails to even mention the oilsands, the fastest-growing source of
greenhouse gas pollution in Canada. It would allow for the continued abdication
of federal responsibilities and does nothing to ensure that oilsands
development occurs responsibly and in accordance with Canadians' expectations.
"In
contrast to other political parties, this platform makes no new commitments to
phase out fossil fuel subsidies."
On sustainable
transportation
"The
Conservative platform put nothing new on the table to support public transit or
sustainable transportation. Instead, it moves in the other direction by
committing to invest in highway infrastructure, building new gateway corridors
and completing the national highway system.
"While
the platform says it will protect the environment and improve Canadians'
quality of life and the air we breathe, there is nothing tangible here to reduce
pollution from transportation, relieve congestion or provide access to rapid
transit for commuters. The Conservative Party also provides no new dedicated federal
funding for transit, high speed rail or other clean transportation technology."
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Contact:
Ed Whittingham
Executive
Director
403-899-0578
