Two steps back

Apparently the Libs couldn't deal with a stream of praise from the Blogging Dippers over their seeming cooperation on the committee reviewing the Clean Air Act - as instead of sticking with the amendments which all opposition parties effectively agreed on earlier this week, the Libs dumped into the mix a new raft of amendments which may prevent the committee from finalizing anything:

Members of a parliamentary committee studying the much maligned proposed clean air act are accusing the federal Liberals of trying to delay its work by introducing a series of last-minute amendments.

The Liberals introduced on Thursday dozens of amendments to Bill C-30, originally drafted to give the federal government power to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases.

The bill, which has passed first reading in the House of Commons, was sent last year to a special legislative committee to be rewritten.

The committee, however, has only until March 30 to report back to the Commons. One of the Liberal amendments introduced Thursday is said to be about 3,000 words long.

Committee members said after a meeting in Ottawa that the Liberals should have introduced the amendments earlier, and they fear the amendments will bog the committee down.

"I expected a delay today and I thought it would come from the government," NDP MP Nathan Cullen said. "Instead it came from the Liberal party. And why? I honestly don't know. It's truly disappointing for all of us."

Hopefully it won't be too late for the committee to deal with the Libs' new amendments. And even if it is, there's always the chance for some combination of the NDP, Bloc and Cons to simply vote down the late amendments and see if the Libs want to be seen taking a stand against the Kyoto amendments that the opposition can agree on.

But given that all parties were aware of a deadline a week earlier, the Libs were at best careless in leaving a new bunch of amendments this late, and at worst trying to prevent exactly the kind of collaboration that was earning so much praise. And if the result is to keep the committee from agreeing on a final bill to report back to Parliament, the Libs may have just taken on an added share of the blame for a continued lack of meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.