Dishonest & Wrongheaded Environment Policy

[August1991]

An intelligent environmental policy would be the opposite of everything suggested below.

Canada won't follow the Bush administration's lead in setting hard targets for reducing oil consumption, but will instead impose tougher emissions standards on the auto sector and other industries, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

However, any regulations intended to protect the environment won't come at the expense of the economy, Harper said Wednesday.

"The government does intend to regulate emissions across all sectors including the automobile sector,'' Harper said in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press.

"(But) we have to consult the industry and ultimately come up with targets that make progress on the environment while being achievable for industry in a way that doesn't jeopardize Canadian jobs,'' Harper added.

....

Environmentalists hope the Canadian auto industry will adopt California standards for greenhouse gas emissions that would require vehicles to reduce emissions by 30 per cent between 2009 and 2015.

"California is not an auto producer, so it's kind of theoretical for California to set auto production standards,'' Harper said.

"We have an actual auto industry.''

....

Sources have also said the government is considering a new tax break for consumers who buy hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius. Ontario and British Columbia have a similar program.

CTV

If Harper thinks he can implement environmental policy without economic effects, he's lying.

He's also wrong to think a top-down, command-and-control regulatory solution is the way to solve environmental problems. That's not how we dealt with sulphur dioxide emissions (acid rain) and that's not what US CEOs are suggesting (cap-and-trade).

Harper's also wrong about California. They may not make cars but they buy a hell of alot of them. California can and does set the standards for car emissions.

Finally, when Harper talks about subsidizing the purchase of hybrid cars, he's just indicating how pathetic this exercise is.

Politicians have to learn how to think on their feet. But once in power, it is hard to think because events happen so quickly and putting out brush fires can consume all one's energies. Kissinger said that politicians rely on all their wisdom and ideas accumulated before having power - because they don't have time to think when in power.

When Harper appeared on the CBC's Cross Country Checkup a few weeks ago, I was surprised to hear him say that learning how to get the bureaucracy to do what he wanted it to do was among the most difficult aspects of being PM. Gee. Really?

Harper and crew are making this up as they go along and they are doing an exceptionally bad job of it. Canada's environmental policy should not fall to such amateurs.

[jdobbin]

Harper and crew are making this up as they go along and they are doing an exceptionally bad job of it. Canada's environmental policy should not fall to such amateurs.

Jeffrey Simpson in his column said that one of the things that is hard for the Tories on the environment is that Harper seems to lack conviction in what he says about it.

Harper would do well to listen to what Bush and Schwarzenegger have said in the last weeks. Instead, he has dismissed both without really providing valid reasons why.

By the way, California does have some car manufacturing. It might not be as big as Ontario's but it is there regardless.

They do have many, many more cars and what California puts into policy affects Canada because we don't actually own the car companies operating here. Setting Californian standards on cars built in Canada puts Canada at a competitive advantage.

[hiti]

So Steve is hoping to brush the environment issue off the table by cherry picking certain aspects of the Liberal Project Green programs which were put in place by Dion and Martin. And then claiming that he is taking care of the environment with a clean air act.

Except that all help for lower income and seniors was ignored in the rewashed Steve environment initiatives.

Bet in Steve's world everyone earned over $100,000 per year and has received hand out from their daddy's.

[Charles Anthony]

This:

"The government does intend to regulate emissions across all sectors including the automobile sector,'' Harper said in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press.

does sound Soviet.

Harper and crew are making this up as they go along and they are doing an exceptionally bad job of it. Canada's environmental policy should not fall to such amateurs.

What is the alternative? Leave it to The Natural Governing Party instead?

Seriously, he could just be stalling for more time. The world is not going to end if Harper does not institute a policy right away. If he rushes out, the socialists will attack him again for being an American Republican. He has to say something to the press that sounds acceptable. If the current environmental policy is to do nothing, then he is correct in saying that the policy will not have economic effects.