Senate squashes climate change bill
By Contributor
BC Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko was shocked to learn that the Conservative dominated unelected Senate defeated his party’s climate change bill. Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, had received final approval last May in the House of commons when it passed third reading by a vote of 149 – 136. In the Senate on Tuesday night, a snap vote defeated this bill 43 – 32. “It is unprecedented for the Senate to defeat a Private Member’s Bill at Second Reading that has been passed by elected parliamentarians in the House of Commons. No House of Commons bill has ever been defeated by the Senate at Second Reading since before World War II”, stated Atamanenko. “This is just another tragic example of the disdain this Prime Minister has for the democratic process. For example, just a few days ago the Conservatives announced an extension of our mission in Afghanistan without a vote in Parliament. It is time to return the democratic process back to Parliament” According to the NDP Environment critic Linda Duncan, Canada now heads to the United Nations Climate Change meetings in Cancun completely empty handed. “Despite endless promises to act on climate change, Stephen Harper’s government has not even tabled one law to address our rising greenhouse gas emissions”, said Duncan.
Bill C-311 would have made the government accountable to Canadians for action on climate change through regular reporting on measures to achieve firm targets: 25 percent below 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
