Reality Check: Liberal strategy for climate change: write plans, do nothing, repeat

Today in Quebec City, Michael Ignatieff is scheduled to announce the Liberal Party's latest position on climate change. This should sound familiar. In the past seven years - in and out of government - Liberals have announced five different climate change plans:

2002: "Climate Change Plan for Canada"

2005: "Project Green - Moving Forward on Climate Change: A Plan for Honouring Our Kyoto Commitment"

2006: "Toward a Sustainable Society," Environment and Sustainable Development Taskforce Report, Liberal Renewal Commission

2007: "Balancing our Carbon Budget"

2008: "The Green Shift"

When it comes to the environment, Liberals have had plenty of ideas, but never the conviction to get anything done:

On Kyoto

What they said: In 1997 the Liberal Government committed to reduce Canada's greenhouse gases by 6 percent of 1990 levels by 2008.

What they did: "Stephane, we didn't get it done."
- Michael Ignatieff to former environment minister Stephane Dion during Liberal leadership forum, Toronto, 15 October 2006.

On a carbon tax

What they said: "But we also have got to have popular, practical, believable policies that may involve some form of carbon tax"
- Michael Ignatieff, Liberal Party leadership debate, Winnipeg, 10 June 2006

What they say now: "Ignatieff repeated what he has said several times in recent months - that there will be no carbon tax proposal in the platform"
- Canwest News, 3 May 2009

On the NDP's Climate Change Accountability Act

What they said: "We can't afford the price of indifference ... There is an imperative to act now...to tackle climate change."
- Michael Ignatieff, Speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade, 13 October 2009

What they did: On 21 October 2009, 42 Liberal MPs voted with Stephen Harper to delay passage of the NDP's climate change accountability bill.

When it comes to protecting the environment, the only thing Mr Ignatieff is willing to stand firm on is his support for the continued pace of development in the tar sands:

"We've got oil reserves there that are just staggering in size. It changes everything about our economic future."
- Michael Ignatieff, The Tyee.ca, 15 January 2009