Climate Change Act passed by House of Commons

On Wednesday May 5, the House of Commons adopted a new version of the climate change accountability legislation which was introduced by NDP MP Bruce Hyer. A previous version had reached Senate but was not reviewed as Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election in the fall of that year and thus the bill died on the order paper.

The Conservatives voted against the legislation, but members from the Liberal Party and the Bloc Quebecois joined the NDP to adopt the bill. It won by a 149-136 vote and was passed on to the Senate for review. The Winnipeg Free Press notes that the bill – the Climate Change Accountability Act — has spent the last year or so bouncing between the full House of Commons and the Commons environment committee.

In addition to local pressure, The Vancouver Sun reports that, “European Union politicians European Union politicians expressed concerns about the "impact of the extraction of oilsand(s) in Canada on the global environment," noting that the high level of greenhouse-gas emissions during the production process poses a threat to biodiversity.” Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of groups concerned about global warming, says "The prime minister is being told in no uncertain terms by not only the Canadian Parliament, but the European Parliament that its refusal to hold the tarsands accountable for its greenhouse-gas pollution is a serious problem that’s compromising Canada’s ability to do its fair share."

However, the government has said it would take action to address pollution from large, industrial facilities only if the U.S. government introduces similar measures to cap emissions. The legislation calls for greenhouse gases to be cut 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.That is significantly higher than the Harper government’s goal of a 17 per cent emissions cut from 2005 levels by 2020, which is in line with the Obama administration’s targets in the United States.

It remains to be seen if the Senate will find the issue as pressing as Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs, Canadian citizens and the international community. The adoption, or lack thereof, of the legislation will have significant consequences for Canada’s credibility and leadership in the international community. In addition, if public support for the legislation is high, there may be negative implications for the Conservative party at the next election.