How the Conservatives will justify falling on amended Bill C-30. Its a “money” bill.

I wondered how the Conservatives would possibly try and justify declaring the newly revised Bill C-30 as a motion of non-confidence. Well, I think we have a hint of it tonight… the Conservatives may claim this is now is a money bill.. because, well…its supposedly a tax on industry.. and therefore money is involved.. very brilliant logic:

At least one Tory MP slammed the revised clean air act as a multibillion-dollar tax on industry, potentially making it a money bill that would spark a confidence vote.

That’s pretty convoluted logic… but the Tories need something to justify falling on this.

I want to give kudos to all 3 opposition parties for finally working together and finally adding teeth to this bill. All 3 opposition parties have amendments in this new bill. Let’s see what the new Clean Air Act does:

— Hard targets for industry on cutting greenhouse gas emissions rather than ones based on the level of industrial output.

— A $20 levy charged for every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions a company produces above its limit. The levy, which would rise over time, would go into a green account that the company could access to make technological improvements to their efficiency.

— Adherence to the Kyoto Accord and the reduction levels it prescribed.

— Participation in an international carbon-trading system.

Remember, the original bill had no targets to be set til 2025 at the earliest (check out the environmental Tory clock on the bottom right for the current date under the old Bill C-30), and had little if any enforcement guidelines.

Despite all that, John Baird still had the gall to come out and say this laughable quote:

“We’re going to look at taking time to look at the entirety of the changes they’ve made. I can tell you I’m not happy. They’ve weakened the bill, not strengthened it.”

Uh.. ok, John.. whatever you say. Of all the things John could have said, that was probably the dumbest of the quotes he could have come up with. Better get a new spin-doctor John. The opposition parties put forward 50 amendments.

Fifty.

5-0.

How many did the Tories come up with?

A big fat goose-egg.

They had no intention of ever seeing this passed. They even objected to the name being changed for the revised bill (Its now known as the Clean Air and Climate-change Act).

More Tory grumbling.. which I am highlighting because it shows how completely unhappy they are over this sudden turn of events:

“This piece of legislation is flawed,” (Tory MP Brian) Jean said. “It is not a good bill in substance — this is about politics and not about cleaning the air for Canadians.” …Baird directed all his criticism of the bill at Dion and the Liberals. The proposal for a levy on business that surpass their emissions targets is taken straight out of a Liberal policy proposal..

Stephane Dion said the Tories should stop crying and climb on board:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said he hoped the Tories would bring themselves to ultimately support it.. “They wanted a new act, they have one now, so they can’t possibly postpone action anymore,” Dion said.

..while the BQ and NDP were also being complimentary:

The Bloc Quebecois and NDP portrayed what happened in the committee differently, lauding a spirit of co-operation between the parties. “There was all kinds of skepticism that anything positive could come out of it and now what we have is one of the best legislation, pieces of legislation that Canadians could possibly put together,” said NDP Leader Jack Layton. “Let’s hope that the prime minister will respect the work that was done and find a way to make sure that it’s implemented.”

Hear, hear Jack. I couldnt agree more. Let’s see if the Tories try to fall on this.. or worse, try to kill it by not allowing it to come forward for a vote. What a PR diaster that would be either way - falling on a tough new environmental bill and running as the only party against the environment.