There's a reason why Tory Environment Minister Jim Prentice labelled the report released last week outlining the cost and benefits of carbon control "irresponsible."

If we seat-rich Ontarians really got the meaning of these findings, the Tories would be tumbling in the polls and out on their asses faster than you can say "Michael, Jack."

The study, Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity, funded by the TD Bank, is the first detailed attempt to foresee how policies pushing targeted greenhouse gas reductions will affect Canada's economic growth.

With stakes this high, no wonder climate politics have taken a real heating in the last few weeks.

We're in the run-up to the December UN climate summit in Copenhagen that will determine how the planet will weather the future, so don't expect things to settle down before the year ends. It's hard to know which way the wind blows with the whole world involved on so many levels of negotiating.

Last month it was the Major Economies Forum, the UN Climate Change Summit and the G20. And as we speak, a two-week negotiating meeting in Bangkok is just ending.

The science is clear about the consequences of missing this moment, but will the political willpower make it to the dotted line in time?

It's been a bad political week for the tar sands. Publicly, the Tories are still clinging to the cupid face they pulled on when U.S. President Barack Obama touched down in Ottawa this winter, but they've just pulled out the big, fat arrows and are aiming low.

As U.S. climate initiatives rev into real action, it shamefully ain't our love that we Canucks are sending stateside.

On Tuesday, May 19, Obama announced historic new rules for reducing auto emissions that will meet the stringent standard set by California's low-carbon fuel regulations. The nationwide standard will take effect in 2012 and is expected to produce a 40 per cent cleaner and more fuel-efficient car and truck fleet in the U.S., averaging 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

The tar and Canada's line in the sands have exploded this week in an uncanny combination of hugely high-profile political and economic events on both sides of the border.

So far on the energy scorecard, it looks like the U.S. is batting 1,000, Canada near zero. And sadly or happily, that's a very, very good thing.

With the new political reality south of the border rocking out so fast, it's hard to keep tabs. The latest and greatest is Obama's cap-and-trade budget, sent to Congress late last week.