Green is Evil

CTV reports that the Tories may lay out their so-called 'green agenda' on Tuesday. Here are some details:

Preparations are shrouded in secrecy, but it is expected the ministers will establish the themes of the "new'' agenda, which will however draw substantially on work of the former Liberal government.

There are rumblings about three initiatives that could be announced Tuesday:

* A $300-million-plus contribution for Vancouver's public transit system. An official at the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cannon will not only deliver on a Liberal promise to use gas-tax money for public transit, but will enrich it.
* Repackaging an air quality health index to give it much higher profile. The index already exists but many people are not aware of it, and it could be given prominence similar to that of the UV index which is reported in most cities on a daily basis.
* A program to retrofit diesel school buses, by either converting them to compressed natural gas or to ultra-low-emissions diesel. Air quality in school buses can be worse than what the children are exposed to outside. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is known to be concerned about asthma, which affliced [sic] him in childhood.

Retrofitting cheese-wagons ain't gonna help your asthma now, Steve. What's next? Banning hockey pucks because he got smacked in the face with them a few too many times when he was a nerdy kid? Is that how he's planning to govern? By some kind of weird political therapy model made to fix all of his childhood concerns? This should be fun...

And if they're stealing most of their plan from the Liberals, why did it take this bloody long to announce it?

I think it's important to repackage that air quality index so people can know exactly how screwed up the environment is while they choke on the fumes from the big polluters who most likely won't be targeted at all: big oil and the auto industry. Maybe they'll launch a colour-coded index like this one:



The Tories seem to like doing things American-style plus it'd be fun to have cheery colours to tell you how close you are to dying thanks to their do-nothing 'green' plan. (The green part of it is the colour you'll be turning from breathing in all of that pollution and it's also the colour of the big bucks that corporate Canada will be raking in while not being penalized for their contributions to global warming).

Meanwhile, those cranky, liberal-type environmentalists (representing only 54 groups - no consensus there obviously) have a slightly different plan in mind:

"We expect you share our concern that rhetoric and good intentions will not address our major environmental challenges -- only action will,'' says a letter sent to Harper by 54 activist groups from across Canada.

The letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, sets out what the groups call their "bottom line'' for assessing the government's program. It calls for:

* An unequivocal recommitment to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
* Clear, measurable, short-term and long-term targets for reductions in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.
* Regulations on emissions by big industry by 2008.
* Auto emissions regulations modeled on the California standard.
* Enforceable national and regional targets for reduction of emissions that cause smog.
* Plans to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants.
* A national strategy for reducing the use and release of mercury.
* Completion of Canada's system of protected areas.
* Use of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to target toxic substances.
* And, ending the government's estimated $1.4 billion annual subsidy to the oil and gas sector and shifting the money to environmental priorities.

To which Environment minister Rona Ambrose reportedly said, 'Pfffft...' while she laughed and walked away.

It's not easy being green, but it is easy being Tory blue and ignoring environmental chaos, apparently.