Climate groups denounce Conservative filibuster of climate bill

'How can we take Stephen Harper seriously.'

Ottawa (6 March 2008) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and other members of the Climate Action Network Canada (CAN) are calling on the Conservative members of the Commons environment committee to end their filibuster of Bill C-377, the Climate Change Accountability Act.

At Wednesday's committee meeting, government members filibustered C-377, a private member’s bill tabled by NDP leader Jack Layton. The proposal would establish national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets for Canada in line with the reduction levels scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous climate change.

All three opposition parties, who form a majority on the committee, support the bill and have tabled amendments to strengthen it during clause-by-clause study. The review was scheduled to wrap up Wednesday. Instead, government members prevented the committee from making any progress by staging their second filibuster in less than a week.

“The government is blocking a science-based response to global warming, against the wishes of a majority of parliamentarians,” says CAN spokesperson Graham Saul. “How can we take Stephen Harper seriously when he says that he considers global warming ‘perhaps the greatest threat facing humanity’?”

“Any responsible government would support this bill and get it into law as soon as possible. Instead, we see nothing but opposition and delay from the government MPs on the committee,” adds John Bennett of ClimateforChange.ca.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring that our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE