Rona Ambrose definitely does NOT clear the air....

The testimony of the Minister of the Environment, the Hon Rona Ambrose yesterday morning, at the House of Commons Environment Committee, was an exercise in Double Speak of the highest Orwellian form. She repeated the same words ''we will bring in a framework to deal with air pollution, the number one concern of Canadians... we are working with Kyoto partners. We are not out of Kyoto. ....We do not believe in the Liberal targets...'', was repeated ad nauseam. (Quotes from my notes, so check Hansard records for her exact words!) Opposition MPs notably the stalwart Kyoto supporter Liberal John Godfrey, tried to get her to answer a question directly... How can one '' be in Kyoto" and ignore legally binding targets? were just brushed off. Nathan Cullen of the NDP asked a yes or no question: will you cut subsidies totaling $1.5 billion/year to the tar sands? Her answer ''the oil and gas sector will be important contributor to any plan...'' He tried twice. No luck getting a straight answer. Minister Ambrose was clear on a few things. No Kyoto targets and no international credits. She quoted a report from the Institute for Policy Studies in her attempt to discredit the carbon credit system under the Clean Development Mechanism. (See our earlier media release and backgrounder for more on CDM and why the Green Party supports it) Ambrose claimed the report had attacked CDM as having ''incentives for corruption.'' She twice referred to the author Daphne Wysham. I know Daphne. I phoned her in Washington DC and discovered that the main target of the IPS report was the World Bank program using CDM, not CDM itself. We got the following response to Ambrose which we distributed to media and other MPs by the end of Question Period (3 PM) in which Ambrose's quoted expert had this to say: ''I am horrified that my statement criticizing the CDM has been interpreted by Canada's environment Minster as a justification for not living up to the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. We absolutely need a vehicle for both curbing emissions in the North and providing resources for clean energy in the South. The CDM may be flawed, but throwing the baby out with the bathwater will set us back decades at a time when action to reduce greenhouse gases is urgently needed. Canada must not violate its legally binding Kyoto commitments.''

- Daphne Wysham, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies I doubt Minister Ambrose will re-think her CDM position. Her researchers were not looking for facts. They were looking for ammunition in their propaganda war. Misrepresenting the Institute for Policy Studies report is just collateral damage. Ambrose will never let the truth get in the way.