Reason for hope

Of all the possible criticisms of the Cons' funding announcement for provincial environmental programs, David McGuinty's may be the most surprising. But it may also hint that the Libs see the committee reviewing C-30 as far more important than they've been willing to let on:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is undermining Parliament by making environmental announcements before a special committee examining the same issues has finished its work, a Liberal MP says.

"What is this if it's not a playpen, or some sort of play process that the Prime Minister has created here to keep people busy under the guise that he's doing something constructive on the environment?" asked Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South), his party's environmental critic...

The Tories are expected to announce short-term targets for large industrial polluters before the end of the month. Such a move would "pre-empt" the work of the committee that is working through to March 30 to significantly amend the government's Clean Air Act, he said.

"Why doesn't he just come out and tell us this?" McGuinty asked of the significant revisions the government has made to its environmental agenda. "Why is he wasting our time?"

Needless to say, it may come as news to some that the Libs are of the view that nothing should be done until after the committee reports back. And the new line that the committee's work should overtake all other action on the environment seems a drastic change both from the Libs' efforts to obstruct the comittee's action, and the fire they've aimed at the NDP for giving the committee any role in the first place.

That said, it's worth watching whether McGuinty's message signals a shift in the Libs' willingness to work to rewrite C-30 to something which all the opposition parties can support. After all, it's hard to see why McGuinty would be upset about any pre-emption if the committee wasn't seen as likely to produce something worthwhile.

If the Libs have changed their tune on the importance of the committee, then it may not be out of the question that the combination of C-288, a rewritten C-30, the Cons' funding announcements and any new regulations worth keeping could result in a far more positive environmental scheme than would seem possible based on the partisan shots that continue to be fired back and forth. And if that proves to be the case this spring, then all parties involved will deserve credit - even if there may be something short of total agreement on the individual components.