Canada passes Kyoto: Election coming?

[Plus1Plus1]

Kyoto was passed by the opposition today. Trying to meet Kyoto's demands at this point is blatantly irrational- so this probably means they're fishing for an election ASAP.

Is Harper going to call it, or stall it?

[SBR]

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Kyoto was passed by the opposition today. Trying to meet Kyoto's demands at this point is blatantly irrational- so this probably means they're fishing for an election ASAP.

Is Harper going to call it, or stall it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know what the [censored] is going on in this country any more. Last I heard Harper was hinting that the government would just ignore the bill. Even if it becomes passed into law. Despite the fact that pretty much everyone agrees this is illegal, I'm almost convinced this is a ploy to try and get the opposition to pass a non-confidence motion and force an election. I think in Harper's mind this will score points with the voters.

I'm even more confused as to what the Liberals are trying to achieve, if they win this election are they actually going to try and ratify Kyoto? Isn't that like.. impossible at this point without shutting down large sectors of the economy. I don't really have the facts in this case to be honest but I thought we were passed the point where it was even possible to met the Kyoto targets.

[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Kyoto was passed by the opposition today. Trying to meet Kyoto's demands at this point is blatantly irrational- so this probably means they're fishing for an election ASAP.

Is Harper going to call it, or stall it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know what the [censored] is going on in this country any more. Last I heard Harper was hinting that the government would just ignore the bill. Even if it becomes passed into law. Despite the fact that pretty much everyone agrees this is illegal, I'm almost convinced this is a ploy to try and get the opposition to pass a non-confidence motion and force an election. I think in Harper's mind this will score points with the voters.

I'm even more confused as to what the Liberals are trying to achieve, if they win this election are they actually going to try and ratify Kyoto? Isn't that like.. impossible at this point without shutting down large sectors of the economy. I don't really have the facts in this case to be honest but I thought we were passed the point where it was even possible to met the Kyoto targets.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the Liberals (and everyone else, for that matter) are trying to stem the flow of votes to the Green Party. All four of the other parties have ignored environmental issues for years (other than to pay lip service to it during election time). The rapid rise in environmental concern (thanks Al Gore!) means that the Liberals and the NDP are both at severe risk of splitting even more votes (Lib-NDP-GP as opposed to Lib-NDP) and the Conservatives are pretending to care about the environment (while simultaneously meeting their primary strategic objective of appeasing Quebec) just to make sure they don't miss the boat on the issue.

I think it's all futile on their part. When the Conservatives talk green, I laugh. When the Liberals talk green, I say "Just like last time, huh?" When the NDP talks green, I say "Get out of bed with the auto companies before you talk to me about the environment."

[iron81]

I don't understand what the Liberals did here. Did they decide to try to force a vote on Kyoto in the Canadian Parliament?

[mosdef]

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I don't understand what the Liberals did here. Did they decide to try to force a vote on Kyoto in the Canadian Parliament?

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They did force a vote. The vote was on a bill saying that the government needs to implement a plan to meet Kyoto targets. The government has 60 days to put that plan into law.

The ruling Conservative government opposed the bill. The other parties combined to pass the bill (since the Conservatives have a minority government they couldn't stop it). Since the ruling government doesn't want such a plan, they might just not do it. In that case, the Liberals would have the right to declare a non-confidence vote. This could force a new election if the majority supports the non-confidence vote. It's not a sure thing, though, because the parties that voted for the bill yesterday may not necessarily want to declare a new election, even if the bill is not carried through on.

I suspect that the Liberals think that they government won't make good on the new bill, and that they will judge public reaction and if they feel there is enough anger then they may call a non-confidence vote hoping that the hype surrounding their new leader plus public backlash at the Conservatives would be enough to put them back in power.

[Plus1Plus1]

I agree wih you Mosdef. I find it insulting that the opposition parties would waste time and effort to pass a bill to use as nothing more than a bargaining chip come election time. It'd be nice if they cam up with a "usable" plan for the environment.