The folly of Kyoto

The National Post takes Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez to task over his private member's bill the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act that would require Canada to meet emissions targets in the next five years:

Mr. Rodriguez, his Liberal caucus mates and environmentalists are reassuring Canadians that the emissions targets imposed by the new bill could be achieved with very little pain for ordinary Canadians. But that is a pipe dream. There is no magic new technology on the horizon that would enable a nation of 32 million to cut hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide output in five short years -- no hydrogen cars, no emissions-free smelters, no solar-powered 18- wheelers. In order to reach our Kyoto targets at this late date, Canada would have to shutter all its coal-fired power plants, plus all its auto plants and Alberta's oilsands. In the late 1990s, the Liberals' own economic forecasts projected 450,000 lost jobs from such reductions.

This is just more hypocrisy from the opposition, especially the Liberals who did nothing to reduce emissions during the 12 years they were in power and the 4 years after they adopted Kyoto.

Yet, the Globe and Mail opines today that the government would be attempting a quasi "coup d'etat" if it ignores the bill after it passes - and it appears that it will. That would be a first, a sitting government staging a coup! Too bad the Liberals didn't have legislation when they were in power requiring them to keep their own promises, let alone someone else's foolish one.

Despite all the rhetoric, in the end the polls may dictate that nobody really wants an election at this time. This is politics after all.