Alone in the world

The Harper regime obviously isn't wasting any time trying to shape Barack Obama's stay in office. But for all the misleading talk about the Cons' plans fitting in with Obama's, there are plenty of important differences - including one in particular where Bush's departure will put the Cons offside from the U.S. (along with most of the rest of the world):

U.S. environmentalists argue that Ottawa's approach to climate change is inconsistent with a serious effort to reduce emissions, and insist the oil sands represent the kind of dirty sources of crude oil that a new administration should be most worried about.

“The trend in the United States is a much greater focus on lower-carbon fuels and promoting energy efficiency,” said Liz Barratt-Brown, a senior lawyer with Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

“That approach does not bar tar sands, but it would make it much more difficult for refiners and blenders to lower the carbon content of their fuels if they are relying more on high-carbon supplies from Canada.”

California has already passed regulations that require gasoline marketers to reduce the carbon emissions from their fuel sources, and require them to account for those emissions right back to the production source.

Mr. Obama's campaign platform promised a similar approach, which has also been included in climate-change bills that have been introduced in Congress.

Ms. Barratt-Brown noted that, unlike U.S. plans, Canada's approach does not include a firm cap on emissions, but instead uses an “intensity target” which regulates emissions on the basis of production levels.

Needless to say, there's no apparent reason why Obama would want to undermine his own emission reduction plan by allowing the Cons to dictate the terms of any climate change deal. Which means that if the Cons do manage to get Obama to talk about the kind of deal they're now pushing, they'll soon face a choice of either admitting that their approach all along has been woefully inadequate, or scuttling their own talks due to an insistence on letting the oil sands off the hook for emission increases.