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