11 May 2014 – An updated Climate Change Accountability Act has been presented to the House of Commons that would require the federal government to establish a plan to reduce greenhouse gases, which cause climate change, to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
The bill, introduced by East End Toronto MP Matt Kellway on June 16, would meet science-based targets that must be observed internationally to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The House of Commons has adopted this measure twice in the last decade, only to see it blocked by the Stephen Harper government.
Harper’s refusal to rein in greenhouse gas emissions has made Canada a rogue state on climate change and a major obstacle to global progress in avoiding a climate-change disaster.
The Climate Change Accountability Act was first introduced by Jack Layton, representing the neighbouring East End riding of Toronto-Danforth, in 2007.
If the government of Canada were to adopt and carry out such a plan, it would initiate a great social effort in which everyone in Canada could play a part and through which Canada, at last, could set a positive example for the world. – Suzanne Weiss
See http://www.ndp.ca/node/74764
First published Toronto East End Against Line 9