Liberals and the environment: “We didn’t get it done and neither should you”

Today Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff confirmed that his party will block passage of the NDP’s Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311) later this afternoon by voting to send the legislation for unneeded “study” at a Parliamentary Committee.

In doing so, Mr. Ignatieff has decided to put politics ahead of the environment. Just because the Liberals didn't get the job done, now they don't want anyone else to.

That the Harper Conservatives would not want Canada to have legally binding and science-based environmental targets in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December surprises no one.

But Mr. Ignatieff?

Just last week he told us: “We can’t afford the price of indifference….Climate change is not a distant abstraction. It’s here, and it’s hurting, right now…There is an imperative to act now…to tackle climate change.” – Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, Speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade, October 13, 2009

And what happened to change the mind of the Liberal environment critic who agreed with the NDP that Canada needs benchmarks in advance of Copenhagen?

“Parliamentarians don't know where this country is going, as a sovereign nation state, on climate change. The really good news and the good faith behind Bill C-311 is helping to prompt a timely debate of where we're going in advance of the important Copenhagen negotiation.” – David McGuinty, Environment Committee, June 18, 2009

And why do the Liberals suddenly believe C-311 needs “further study”, when they helped pass an identical Bill at third reading in the last Parliament?

“[Bill C-311] has been reintroduced under a new MP, a bill that was put forward in the last Parliament by the leader of the NDP. As such, it really has no material changes compared to its predecessor bill.” –David McGuinty, Hansard, March 4, 2009

Mr. Ignatieff famously told his predecessor, and former Environment Minster: “We didn’t get the job done.”

Today Mr. Ignatieff showed us how. When it comes to acting on the environment, the Liberal leader can’t even take his own advice:

“It’s very simple: we won’t be taken seriously until we are serious about the environment.” – Speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade, October 13, 2009

Take you seriously, indeed.