Smart Move

The recently passed private members bill tabled by Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez’s, which forces the government to reach its Kyoto targets, could do a lot of damage to the Conservative party if properly exploited by the Liberals. If the right steps are taken, they can succeed both in painting the government as insincere on the environment, and more importantly, unwilling to respect the Canadian law.

In the bill, it is stated that the government must come to the Commons with a plan no more than 60 days after the bill’s adoption by the Senate. This leaves it with a little more than 50 days to prepare its plan, which it has already indicated it will not do.

On the day that government’s plan is due, the Liberals should make a bold move and table their environmental plan, which does meet the Kyoto targets, and have the other parties vote on it. The Conservatives would then have to choose between supporting the Kyoto accord that they spent so much time ridiculing, or ignoring the will of parliament, which adopted Rodriguez’s. At the same time, the NDP and Bloc would also be stuck between a rock and a hard place as they would have to choose between killing a plan that meets Kyoto or implementing a Liberal green strategy.

In all situations, the Liberals would stand to win, presuming of course, that their plan really is concrete and viable... at least that's what my political instinct tells me!