Tories set to unveil green agenda

The federal government will begin rolling out its green agenda in Vancouver on Tuesday and the environmental movement is waiting with hope and anxiety.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and four of hiscabinet ministers— Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, Health Minister Tony Clement and Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon — will join in a major effort to rebrand the Conservative government in shades of brilliant green.

Preparations are shrouded in secrecy, but it is expected the ministers will establish the themes of the "new" agenda, which will however draw substantially on the work of the former Liberal government.

There are rumblings about three initiatives that could be announced Tuesday:

• A $300-million-plus contribution for Vancouver's public transit system. An official at the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cannon will not only deliver on a Liberal promise to use gas-tax money for public transit, but will enrich it.
• Repackaging an air quality health index to give it much higher profile. The index already exists but many people are not aware of it, and it could be given prominence similar to that of the UV index which is reported in most cities on a daily basis.
• A program to retrofit diesel school buses, by either converting them to compressed natural gas or to ultra-low-emissions diesel. Air quality in school buses can be worse than what the children are exposed to outside. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is known to be concerned about asthma, which afflicted him in childhood.

Commit to Kyoto: Green groups

Environmentalists are gearing up for an effort to ensure that the government does not get away with a public relations blitz devoid of substance.

"We expect you share our concern that rhetoric and good intentions will not address our major environmental challenges — only action will," says a letter sent to Harper by 54 activist groups from across Canada.

The letter, obtained by the Canadian Press, sets out what the groups call their "bottom line" for assessing the government's program. It calls for:

• An unequivocal recommitment to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, an international accord signed bythe Liberals while they were in power butviewed with hostility by Harper and the Conservatives before and since they werevoted into office.
• Clear, measurable, short-term and long-term targets for reductions in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.
• Regulations on emissions by big industry by 2008.
• Auto emissions regulations modeled on the California standard.
• Enforceable national and regional targets for reduction of emissions that cause smog.
• Plans to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants.
• A national strategy for reducing the use and release of mercury.
• Completion of Canada's system of protected areas.
• Use of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to target toxic substances.
• And an end to what the activists say is thefederal government's estimated $1.4 billion annual subsidy to the oil and gas sector, with the money to be shiftedto environmental priorities.