The Toronto Star reported on December 7 that Environment Minister Rona Ambrose urges consumers to choose green options in their personal habits, and that new programs would be implemented to “enlist consumers in the effort to curb climate change.”
“Wait”, you say, “I thought we had programs like this?”
“What about EnerGuide, which provided subsidies for home-owners to upgrade their houses?”
Well, you see, these programs were implemented by the Liberals, so naturally the Conservatives had to cancel them.
Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell asked Ambrose for copies of the studies which supported the governments position that the programs were not effective, quoting from a Natural Resources Canada memo which stated, “All NRCan programs were assessed to be on track to meet or surpass their objectives.”
“The energy conservation and renewable programs were found to be effective in stimulating emissions reductions. They will contribute over 20 (megatonnes) in reductions by 2010, mainly at a cost of less than $10 a tonne which is extremely cost-effective.”
In response, Ambrose had two answers:
First, “There’s never been a comprehensive audit or review done of the climate-change programs across government, ever.”
and then when pressed on how, if there had been no review, the government could know the programs were ineffective, she responded, “We did a comprehensive review, by PCO (Privy Council Office) of all these programs.”
Ummm, in a word, “Hunh?” Ambrose left the meeting before she could clarify.
As to the title of this post, there is one thing that Rona Ambrose and I can agree upon.
I also urge consumers to make green choices.
I would just take it one step further and encourage voters to make Green choices, so that those choices for consumers become easier to afford.
