Québec govt. blasts Prentice for opposing auto emission regulations
February 2, 2010 - 6:37pm
Cough cough...
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Quebec accuses Ottawa of siding with auto industry in emissions debate
Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice criticized new Quebec legislation that will impose fines up to $5,000 on large auto manufacturers for every vehicle they sell that fails to comply with new emission standards. [...]
But Quebec Environment Minister Line Beauchamp says the province is far from alone in adopting tough emission standards for vehicles.
She pointed out in an interview today that 15 U.S. states, including New York and California, have already adopted similar regulations. [...]
The Quebec Environmental Quality Act will come into effect for car manufacturers in 2016.
Gotta love Canada's environment minister Prentice for defending the environment like this.
This is huge news in Québec right now. Prentice is using blackmail, saying that Quebeckers will just end up paying $5000 more for their vehicles, because the auto manufacturers won't comply by 2016. Does he not grasp that if he succeeds in undermining Charest, the only place for votes to go will be the PQ or QS?
Anyway, like all neocons, Prentice is such a fanatical Harperite creep that he will (hopefully) help rally Quebeckers in favour of more stringent environmental regulations.
Quebec's rift with Ottawa over climate change grows
In India Wednesday, Quebec Premier Jean Charest excoriated the federal government for declaring that it planned to match whatever climate-change policy the U.S. government eventually adopts.
“The only federal plan is to align with the United States,” Mr. Charest told reporters. “However, I never in my life thought that aligning our policies with the United States was good enough for Canada.”
But a federal official, speaking on background, said that Quebec is placing itself dangerously outside a continental consensus by adopting stringent vehicle and energy emissions standards. [...]
The battle over the environment between Mr. Charest and Mr. Harper is intensifying as polls show Conservative popularity fading in Quebec. Since Quebeckers pride themselves on being environmentally progressive, politically, the Prime Minister is bound to lose.
Charest was interviewed by the CBC today, and he made clear that several US states are bringing in stricter emissions controls than the feds - California, New York, and a couple I don't remember. So it's not as though Quebec is ding something completely unique, except perhaps in a Canadian context. On Evan Solomon's show, Evan Solomon suggested Charest is priming himself to take over the Conservatives whenever Harper steps down.
The key thing here is the Obama-Harper alliance to stifle any international accord which vaguely resembles Kyoto. You don't have to do anything "unique" to incur Harper's wrath. And Charest is only acting in response to massive popular pressure, no doubt looking for electoral profit. His motives don't matter - Québec's stand deserves support, and the other provinces should set similar targets - don't you think?
Yes, I support Charest 100% on this. He used to be Minister of the Environment - he knows this file better than Prentice could ever hope to do. I cringe a bit in saying this, but Charest is probably smarter than the entire Conservative caucus combined.
Unfortunately that support won't be forthcoming, at least from the Western Premiers.
Masdar City(UAE) sets its pod cars in motion Driverless pod cars? They can afford to invest in new technology with a national oil company raking in profits.
I seldom support anything by Charest but I applaud this initiative. I am so very, very tired of hearing we have no Canadian policies except the overriding policy of implementing policies voted on and passed by the US.
So what is the purpose of electing a federal government why not just instruct our bureaucrats to take their orders directly from Washington and forgo the expense of parliament. Keep the Buildings of course because they are a quaint tourist draw but get rid of the expense of Cabinet and the PMO and MP's and just have our GG greeting dignitaries when they come to Ottawa to tell us what we are going to next.
I seldom support anything by Charest but I applaud this initiative. I am so very, very tired of hearing we have no Canadian policies except the overriding policy of implementing policies voted on and passed by the US.
So what is the purpose of electing a federal government why not just instruct our bureaucrats to take their orders directly from Washington and forgo the expense of parliament.
I imagine the rest of the provinces will do something similar at some point when gasoline is $4 or $5 dollars a litre and we're importing oil for use in Canada west of Quebec City for the first time. At which point our stooges for Syncrude and Exxon-Imperial will say to us, Ya see now? We really do care about the environment now that the country is fresh out of crude oil reserves. Not that there won't be Canadians willing to pay an arm and a leg to fill the tanks for their Blazers and Hummers - there will be. But at least they'll be forced to buy the most expensive fuel efficient cars with maximum horsepower while the rest of us frozen hosers either hoof it or take the bus. And forget about cheap natural gas, because that's spoken for, too, until we run out of proven reserves in just a few years. And I imagine very many people won't be able to afford to heat these big new houses sometime down the road. Prices of those houses will come way down. We're being conditioned to accept the inevitable consequences of having our national energy policy dictated to us from corporate America.
I cringe a bit in saying this, but Charest is probably smarter than the entire Conservative caucus combined.
...probably saner, too.
Charest was supposed to meet with Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, but the meeting was cancelled (by the Harper government) with no explanation forthcoming yet. There's speculation that this was retaliation for Charest's counterattacks on Prentice. Most of the coverage is in French, but it includes Charest accusing Prentice of lying about the details of the forthcoming emissions regulations (Charest calls it "désinformation").
Someone on Evan Solomon's Power Panel (snicker) tonight made the false argument that the automakers are not going to sell one version of their product in Quebec and a different version everywhere else. The automakers already sell different (read: cleaner) versions of their product in California, and New York and other states are following suit, insisting on cleaner emissions than the standard product. If these states can force the automakers to adapt to their emissions laws, I don't see why Quebec (and other provinces) can't do likewise.
The key thing here is the Obama-Harper alliance to stifle any international accord which vaguely resembles Kyoto. You don't have to do anything "unique" to incur Harper's wrath. And Charest is only acting in response to massive popular pressure, no doubt looking for electoral profit. His motives don't matter - Québec's stand deserves support, and the other provinces should set similar targets - don't you think?
The other key thing would appear to be Harper's retreat into the West, with both Quebec and Ontario giving up on his oily economics. Which leaves the key question for a social-democratic audience : do New Democrats have the capacity to meet the needs of French-speaking social democrats in Quebec and the Maritimes (as they seem to be able to do in northen Ontario)? Sure would love to hear something about this from folks east of the Ottawa watershed. And just what would be needed to make it so. (Solidarity with Bloc and questions of cultural sovereignty aside, for the moment, as we consider the physical survival of all).
...probably saner, too.
It is obvious that Prentice is going to slam anything that threatens to reduce the amount of oil we burn.
But, the question is, how do we fight the bastards politically. Like...do something about it? Hence the political questiion.
CTV is reporting that the Quebec government has an ad supporting the Alberta tarsands on its website!
