What's the Rush? - 2007-02-04
The Conservatives with their newfound environmental conscience are now all hot to get their clean air legislation passed before their March budget comes down. Hot on their heels are the largely impotent NDP party who following the 2006 election are no longer needed by the sitting government.
Everyone is saying this is a non-partisan issue and all are interested in working together to find a workable plan to fight climate change due to green house gases. If this is truly a non-partisan issue, what's the rush to get it done before the budget? As far as I know there is no reason why the government couldn't earmark some funds to begin implementation of any plan that is agreed upon in the March budget and add more at a later date, if needed.
The Conservatives are in a no lose situation if the plan gets passed before the budget. If they fall on the budget they can say they tried, if the budget gets passed with the legislation in place they can get it off the table and forget about it. The NDP can also benefit if the legislation gets passed before the budget as they can also say they tried and if it does get passed and the budget survives they can say they did something this parliament.
None of these reasons for getting this legislation passed quickly can really be considered non-partisan. All of these reasons for getting this legislation passed are for public relations value.
While climate change is important and must be dealt with soon, the solutions to climate change must be complete and all encompassing. It really won't make any difference to the next, next ten or next 100 generations if the legislation is passed in March or June of this year. What's important is doing the job right, not doing the job quickly.
If this is truly a non-partisan issue with all parties working together the emphasis must be on environmental sustainability, not legislative expedience.
