Angry in the Great White North

Ever notice just how environmentalists loathe Prime Minister Stephen Harper. No surprise there:

Environmentalists say the Conservatives' communications strategy on climate change almost exactly echoes advice in a three-year-old briefing book written by U.S. pollster and communications adviser Frank Luntz.

"The reality is that the Harper government has studied Republican tactics carefully and is implementing them one at a time,'' said Louise Comeau, project director of the Sage Climate Project.

But the weird thing is just how these environmentalists just gush over Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, despite the fact that as environment minister, Canadian emissions of greenhouse gases have gone up by over 30% at a time when Canada was supposed to be cutting emissions to meet Kyoto:

Dion said his policy would help Canada to meet its Kyoto target while encouraging industry to develop more efficient equipment and processes.

"I am confident that Canadian business will seize the opportunity to be leaders in green technology ... and Canada will seize the opportunity to become a green energy superpower."

Environment groups welcomed the plan.

"This is great. It's hard to ask for much more," said John Bennett, executive director of the Climate Action Network.

"This is the strongest proposal for regulating industrial greenhouse gas pollution made by any political party in Canada," said Matthew Bramley, of the Calgary-based Pembina Institute. "It sets the right targets and the right timelines."

You have to ask yourself why these people would want Stephane Dion, whose words might be nice but whose actions have proven to be woefully inadequate, in charge of the environment file again.

Consider these numbers. They are the funds received by environmental groups in 2005-2006, while Stephane Dion was environment minister

• Pembina Institute: $403,240
• Sage Foundation: $107,000
• Climate Action Network: $1,783,769

Well, that's interesting.

But then why can't the Conservatives buy that sort of PR? Maybe because Stephen Harper fulfilled his promise to actually audit the millions of dollars that year after year go to these foundations and public relations groups by finally putting them under the authority of the Auditor General:

• The [Federal Accountability Act] will give the Auditor General authority to inquire, at his or her discretion, into the use of funds that individuals, institutions, and companies receive under a funding agreement with any federal department, agency, or Crown corporation.
• It will require that the Government include in funding agreements with recipients provisions that support Auditor General audits. More specifically, funding agreements will:
  • prescribe that recipients maintain records with respect to federal funding provided;
  • create a contractual right for the Auditor General to inquire into the use of funding provided; and
  • require that recipients provide information and records to the Auditor General on request.
• It will require that every department review, at least once every five years, the relevance and effectiveness of each ongoing grants and contributions program for which it is responsible. Grants or contributions to individuals, corporations, and non-government organizations account for $26 billion in annual transfer-payment spending. The Treasury Board will determine the scope of these reviews, how they are approached, and when departments will submit reports to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Can you imagine the terror this strikes into the hearts of the people who run Pembina, Sage, and the Climate Action Network? Just what are these millions being used for? How does this spending help Canadians? And if the money is deemed to have been wasted, who is going to be held to account?

Let's review:

• Stephane Dion, source of unregulated funding -- good for the environment.
• Stephen Harper, in pursuit of accountability -- bad for the environment.

And I thought climatology was hard.