FRANKE JAMES

A ‘green plan with gonads’ is now at the very top of Canadian’s wish list

by Franke James

Is it coincidental that Garth Turner, Member of Parliament for Halton, Ontario was kicked out of the Conservative Party, the day before the Conservative’s announced their “made-in-Canada” environmental agenda?

The Conservatives say it was for leaking information on closed door meetings but no proof was given. Having now seen their just-released ‘Clean Air Act’ it’s no wonder that Turner’s words raised their ire. (Hint: the Conservative’s deadline for climate action is 2050.) Turner’s former career as a best-selling author and reporter taught him to speak his mind and not mince words. And it’s his way with words that has put the Conservatives on the hot seat. Turner wrote on his blog:

“A green plan with gonads is now at the very top of the public’s wish list — and rightly so… My position (when the Harper Administration releases its plan) will be that climate change is the greatest all-round threat this country faces, and that my nation’s government should not let us down with half-measures, a curtsy to junk science or a sell-out to the tar sands.”

Nice to see a politician calling a spade a spade. Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party wasted no time in asking Turner to join her party. Maybe Turner could help shift Canada’s environmental agenda… Just by joining he’d be altering Canada’s political landscape — as the first Green Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.

You have to wonder who Harper is listening to — other than the Alberta Tar Sand forces? Surely it’s not the Canadian people? The Globe and Mail published survey results today that found that 84% of those surveyed would back levying heavy fines against industries that do not reduce their carbon emissions. It also found that 55% support a new energy tax.

Oh yes, and that Conservative “made-in-Canada” Clean Air plan? Released today it promises that greenhouse gas emissions would be cut in half by 2050. I guess Harper wants us to hold our breath for the next 44 years…

As Turner so eloquently put it, Canada needs a ‘green plan with gonads’.

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