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Twirling, twirling around the corner

John Baird, April 26, 2007. “Canada needs to do a U-Turn, because we are going in the wrong direction. Since the Liberals promised to reduce greenhouse gases in 1997, they have only gone up. Canadians want action, they want it now and our government is delivering. We are serving notice that beginning today, industry will need to make real reductions. In as little as three years, greenhouse gases could be going down, instead of up. After years of inaction, Canada now has one of the most aggressive plans to tackle greenhouse gases and air pollution in the world.”

Environment Commissioner, today. “For the Regulatory Framework for Industrial Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Environment Canada could not provide evidence that the information in the annual climate change plans was based on adequate rationale. The expected emission reductions claimed in the plans are overstated, and the uncertainties related to these reductions are not disclosed … in the plans prepared to date, the Department has not explained why expected emission reductions can be estimated in advance but actual reductions cannot be measured after the fact.”

Jim Prentice, today. “To the extent that they have criticism or comments about the way in which the calculations are made, we’re pleased to have a look at that and we will improve the method by which we do the calculations. But the real issue here is that we are working together on a continental basis and an international basis in this year which is a critical year in terms of arriving at an overall approach to greenhouse gases. I’ve said that by the time we get to Copenhagen we will have domestic policies laid out for each source of emissions in Canada. That’s the same commitment that the United States has given. It’s the same commitment that the Australians have given and other countries.”

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