There's been some positive commentary on Ontario's plan to join several U.S. states in an emissions trading plan relating to power plants (the RGGI). But I have to worry that this may only provide exactly the out the Cons are looking for on the environment.
After all, Harper is already loudly proclaiming his intention to tie the federal government's hands when it comes to matters where the provinces are acting. And it wouldn't be too much of a leap for the Cons to try to make the claim that since a province is making an effort to tie into international emissions trading, the federal government shouldn't get involved.
What's worse, even if the Cons continue to push forward with their own set of weak cuts, there's some real danger that the RGGI deal will offer an excuse for even less action than the Cons would have tried to get away with otherwise. Thanks to the RGGI, Harper will now have the excuse that Ontario's government has signed on to a plan where emissions from some of the country's largest polluters are permitted to stay at their current level until 2015, with only a 10% reduction from that point by 2020. Which could lead to Harper copying similarly unambitious targets on a national scale - or at least claiming the RGGI as some evidence that the opposition consensus on the need for more effective and faster reductions should be ignored.
Of course, the Ontario move may still be better than nothing in the long run, particular if the Cons really do plan to run out the clock on Bill C-30. But it's still a serious problem if the RGGI serves to reduce the impetus for the far stronger action that's needed to actually put a dent into greenhouse gas emissions.
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