Here's a question for the Green Party leader: why did she vote against the NDP motion tabled today by the NDP Environment critic, Megan Leslie (Halifax):
“That this House: (a) agree with many Canadians and the International Energy Agency that there is grave concern with the impacts of a 2 degree rise in global average temperatures; (b) condemn the lack of effective action by successive federal governments since 1998 to address emissions and meet our Kyoto commitments; and (c) call on the government to immediately table its federal climate change adaptation plan.”
Line (b) that included "condemn the lack of effective action by successive federal governments since 1998" ensured that the motion had no chance of gaining support as Liberals and Conservatives are not about to vote for a motion that puts them in the role of being the culprit. So what was the purpose of this motion? If the purpose of the motion was to combat climate change than the motion should have been written in a way that would have gained as much support as possible. The motion could have been written in a way that gave it a chance to pass or at least gain the support of the entire opposition. If The Liberals, May and a dozen Conservatives could have been brought on side the motion would have passed. But it was written in a way that the Liberals could not vote for it and that paved the way for the Conservatives to be able to claim that 3 out of 4 parties are on their side on the issue. This motion ended up being a victory for the those that argue that little can be done to combat climate change.
Why didn't the NDP work with the Greens and Liberals to write up a motion that could have achieved broad consensus on the opposition side? Omitting line b could have got the Liberals on side and that would have brought May on side too. Omitting line b might have even allowed some Conservatives to vote for the motion and the motion would have passed and a victory would have been won in the battle against man made climate change. And if such a victory had occured, the NDP would have gained praise for instigating it in a non-partisan way.