Environmental groups praise revised Bill C-30, urge Conservatives to respect the will of Parliament.

Adding to the pressure that the Conservatives now find themselves in over the amended Bill C-30 petard they hoisted themselves on in not expecting the opposition to unite and come up with an amended bill before their own regulations came out, environmental groups have come out and publicly supported the amended Bill C-30 (now known as the Clean Air and Climate Change Act) and urged the Tories to pass it. After all, they’re the ones who sent it to committee for it to be amended in the first place:

The Climate Action Network, Pembina Institute and Sierra Club of Canada said the bill, now called the clean air and climate change act, is much stronger now than it was when it was first tabled in the House of Commons in October. “We expect that the government will respect the bill, put it before Parliament and respect the will of the people,” John Bennett, executive director of the Climate Action Network, said in Ottawa. “This is a moment of truth for government….This is a government bill. This is their bill. They agreed to have it brought to a committee. Two-thirds of Canadians voted for MPs who made these amendments,” he said.

Exactly. The government sent this bill to get amended to avoid it getting defeated entirely when it was panned in October, and the Committee has done that. The key words in that quote above are, respect the will of the people. As NDP MP Nathan Cullen and Liberal Leader Stepahne Dion says, the government should stop being a crybaby and deal with it:

“Just accept defeat on the things that you’ve lost, and accept the fact that there are things you’ve voted for, and that’s how the Parliament works when you’re in a minority position,” Cullen said….Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said the government agreed to send the bill to the committee and now it must act on it. “They wanted a new act, they have one now, so they cannot postpone the action anymore,” he said.

Or call an election over it, Mr Harper. I dare you. I’d be more then happy to campaign against the only party in Canada that is anti-environment.