The Sierra Club of Canada just came out with this slamming report on the Canadian government’s environmental policy:
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way is Sierra Club Canada’s advice to the federal government in its 2008 Kyoto Report Card, released today. The Report Card’s release comes on the same day that senior European Union and Canadian officials are meeting to discuss successful European practices in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Canada has a lot to learn from the European Union and we hope that Environment Canada officials will listen carefully to governments that are rising to the challenge of meeting their Kyoto targets,” said Stephen Hazell, Sierra Club Canada’s executive director. “The EU is not only reducing emissions, it is creating a green economy with more than a million new jobs for Europeans. There is no reason why Canada should not share in these green economic benefits. “
The 2008 Kyoto Report Card describes the leadership assumed by municipal leaders, including the 150-plus municipalities that have signed on as Partners for Climate Protection. The Report Card also highlights the efforts of provinces such as Québec and British Columbia that have serious emission reduction strategies, and those of countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany that are on track to meet or exceed their Kyoto targets.
“If the Harper government refuses to follow the leaders, it should at least get out of the way of provinces taking serious action such as adopting California standards for cars,” said Emilie Moorhouse, atmosphere and energy campaigner. “After two decades of foot-dragging, the federal government should be racing to catch up, instead of diluting efforts by adopting the weakest standards.”
“Not only were the federal government’s domestic actions to fight global warming in 2007 inadequate, Canada became known as the colossal fossil in United Nations negotiations,” said Jean Langlois, national campaign director. “The next federal election will give Canadians the chance to demand serious action to reduce emissions so that Canada can hold its head high internationally as a respected steward of the atmosphere.”
For a second, I thought they were talking about the U.S . . .
La Marguerite 
Great post Marguerite.
I agree.
Good for the Sierra Club of Canada. We need to apply the same philosophy in the US, i.e., the “lead, follow, or get out of the way” philosophy. That said, we certainly don’t seem to be “leading” on this issue, although we in the US often like to think of ourselves as leaders. Yet, I’m encouraged with the recent primary results.
It seems to me that the elections are taking precedent on all global warming related policy decisions. Plus we have the Bush problem to contend with . . .