[h2]Tories 'cut a deal' with NDP on climate[/h2]Globe and Mail
Ottawa- Signs of an alliance between Conservatives and New Democrats emerged Monday as MPs launched into a rewrite of the government's central climate-change legislation. Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa Monday morning after a six-week recess, where they were greeted by a sunbathing Greenpeace activist in a polar-bear suit.[/p] The environmental protests outside and the heated exchanges in Question Period over global warming made it abundantly clear that climate change will be the dominant issue of this winter session.[/p] Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion launched into Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons, daring him to state that he is "no longer a climate-change denier."[/p]
Mr. Harper countered with catchphrases from his party's new anti-Dion attack ads, saying the Liberal Leader had his chance in office and "he did not get it done."[/p] While the Question Period rhetoric is sure to carry on for some time in this vein, the real battleground over the coming weeks will be in a Commons committee room. Parliamentarians on a special legislative committee decided Monday to wrap up their work on the government's Clean Air Act on pollution and climate change no later than March 30.[/p] The committee met Monday, and while it was devoted primarily to logistics, the political dynamic in the room quickly took shape.[/p] The NDP and Conservatives often agreed and both parties frequently accused the Liberals of delaying tactics.[/p] The scene in the committee room was virtually identical to the dynamic that saw then-treasury board president John Baird pass the government's ethics legislation with NDP support.[/p] The Federal Accountability Act was the first priority of the Conservative government and the Prime Minister cited Mr. Baird's success in getting that bill into law as a reason he was named this month as the new Environment Minister.[/p] To get his ethics bill through, Mr. Baird and his senior aides held a secret meeting last year with the lone NDP MP on the committee, Pat Martin. There, Mr. Baird agreed to support more than 20 NDP amendments in exchange for Mr. Martin's support for the bill as a whole. The deal was also contingent on the NDP keeping the pact under wraps until it made it through the committee.[/p] Now in the Clean Air Act committee, the lone NDP MP is Nathan Cullen, but his aides clearly have a relationship with Mr. Baird's aides — the same officials who acted as envoys to the NDP on the ethics bill.[/p] For instance, when the Bloc Québécois suggested a timeline for the committee, one of Mr. Baird's officials quickly met in the back of the room with an NDP aide. Moments later a joint NDP-Tory counterproposal emerged.[/p] "Clearly they've cut a deal," grumbled Liberal MP David McGuinty.[/p] What is not clear, however, is if the Tory-NDP co-operation is limited to details, or whether it includes a compromise on much larger policy issues such as the Kyoto Protocol.[/p] Mr. Baird, who wore a green tie for his first Question Period as Environment Minister, was offering few details Monday as to what changes he is prepared to live with.[/p] The NDP's environment critic, Mr. Cullen, denied that he has struck an alliance with the Conservatives. He said he attempted to create working relationships with the Liberals and Bloc Québécois, but they weren't interested.[/p] Throughout the 2½-hour meeting, the Tories and NDP made various proposals to fast-track the committee's workload, but faced persistent opposition from the Liberals.[/p] It was the Bloc's environment critic, Bernard Bigras, who frequently played a mediating role between the two sides.[/p] The committee's timeline essentially puts off the hard questions until after the March break. Only then will MPs be able to put forward amendments, and observers say it is hard to see where the NDP and Conservatives can come to terms.[/p] Though the Liberals, the Bloc and the New Democrats are all swiping at each other, they all called Monday for the government's Clean Air Act to commit Canada to meeting its Kyoto targets.[/p] Meeting that demand would be a major reversal for Mr. Harper, who as opposition leader attacked then-prime minister Jean Chrétien the day Parliament voted to ratify in 2002, saying it was "reckless" to move forward without a clear plan.[/p] Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol in April of 1998, committing Canada to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions to an average of 6 per cent below 1990 levels during the years 2008 to 2012.[/p] Instead, as new Conservative attack ads point out, emissions are about 27 per cent above 1990 levels.[/p] Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace said that while in opposition, Mr. Harper and his colleagues "were there every step of the way trying to stop" action on climate change.[/p] "For the Conservative government to [attack the Liberals on climate change], it's frankly unbelievable," he said.[/p]
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