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Sierra Club of Canada – Press Release
April 7th, 2006

Government Cutting Everything but Emissions

(Ottawa) Sierra Club of Canada is calling upon the new Conservative government to come clean on what it is planning to do about climate change. The government statements about accountability and honesty should be reflected in how it handles the most urgent environmental issue before it. To date the only new initiative the government has said it will pursue is a tax credit for transit riders.

“What does starting from scratch mean? What does ignoring the Kyoto target mean? What does cutting the climate change budget mean?” said John Bennett Senior Policy Advisor for Energy of the Sierra Club of Canada (SCC).

Wednesday night on CBC Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said, "If it's not in the taxpayers' interest to fund programs that are not effective, then we are not going to."

He refused to confirm that the new Conservative government is cutting climate change spending by 40%. Yet Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has reconfirmed the government will go ahead with plans to make transit passes tax deductible. This is the corner stone of the Conservative government’s environment program. However, this is an expensive as well as ineffective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

“The government says it doesn’t want to fund ineffective programs but that is exactly what it’s going to do,” said Emilie Moorhouse, SCC’s Atmosphere and Energy Campaigner.

A 1999 study of the Transportation Climate Change Table concluded transit pass tax exemptions would cost $3 billion and reduce emissions by only 0.2 megatonnes, making it amongst the most expensive and least effective measures to reduce emissions.

More recent figures suggest the Conservatives’ $2 billion tax break for transit riders will reduce between 45,000 to 65,000 tonnes of emissions at a cost of over $2,000 per tonne.

Numerous studies suggest transit ridership is not responsive to the fare box; in other words, transit ridership does not change when fares are raised or lowered. Most riders choose the bus for reasons other than the cost. Providing a year-end tax saving would have even less impact than lower fares.

Sierra Club of Canada does not dispute the need for cost-effective climate change programs and supports the review of programs instigated by the former government last year. The cuts however are coming before the review has been released and without regard to its recommendations.

“I did a review of NRCan programs in 2003 and concluded that what was wrong with most of them was that they were unambitious and under-funded. I am personally shocked that any government would be cutting funding. There is an urgent need to reduce emissions,” said John Bennett.

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For more information:

John Bennett: (613) 291-6888

Emilie Moorhouse (French): (613) 241-4611

Sierra Club of Canada press releases can be found at: www.sierraclub.ca/national/media/.

Sierra Club of/du Canada
412-1 Nicholas St., Ottawa, ON, K1N 7B7
phone: 613-241-4611, fax: 613-241-2292
communications@sierraclub.ca .