On poor value

The CP reports that not only are the Cons planning for Canada not to live up to its Kyoto Protocol commitments, but their few ideas to deal with climate change appear likely to be far less efficient than some of the programs now being torn down:

Internal federal documents indicate that one of the Tories' main proposals to cut greenhouse-gas emissions will be far more costly than anything in the Liberal plan they're dismantling.

The proposal, included in the Conservatives' election platform, would give public transit riders a federal tax credit to cover the cost of their monthly transit passes. Internal documents provided to The Canadian Press suggest that such a measure would increase transit use by only five to seven per cent, and would cost $2,000 for each tonne of carbon dioxide saved.

Under the Liberal plan, dubbed Project Green, initiatives were estimated to cost $20 to $200 per tonne of carbon saved.

Of course, it's always possible that the Libs' own estimates may have been based on unrealistic assumptions. But at the very least, more efficient possibilities to help improve the environment are something the Cons should be looking at in tandem with their own ideas - not something to be thrown out the window merely because the Libs were once associated with them.

(Edit: typo.)