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Canadian Prime Minister Harper agrees to send 'Clean Air Act' to committee

Thursday, November 2, 2006

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper has agreed to send the government's 'Clean Air Act' to an all-party committee for review, before its second reading, after Tuesday's 25 minute meeting with NDP leader Jack Layton at the PMO.

Layton had asked for changes to the conservatives' environmental bill during the meeting with the PM, asking for a "thorough and complete rewriting" of the Conservative party's environmental bill.

However, Layton was disappointed with Harper's reaction. "I'm not really convinced that the prime minister understands the urgency of the climate change crisis, the threat that climate change proposes and the urgency to move quickly," he said. "Far too much emphasis on consultations that could go on for considerable periods of time as opposed to action.

NDP Leader Jack Layton in Ottawa during the 2006, Canadian federal election

Layton has introduced a private member's bill on climate change. It calls for emissions to be cut by 25 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020, in an attempt to cut total emissions by 80 per cent of those levels by 2050.

Other parties including the Liberal Party of Canada, Bloc Québécois and the Green Party of Canada are concerned about this.

"What we've been concerned about was really a Halloween stunt from Mr. Layton," Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham said at a news conference.

"It will be completely transformed," said BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe. "The Conservatives won't recognize their legislation."

However, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said bringing the 'Clean Air Act' into committee would give the legislation some legitimacy it doesn't deserve.

The committee will be full of critics commenting on the conservatives' bill.

The Tory government may have a possible non-confidence motion as early as Thursday unless it allows opposition parties to rewrite its clean air bill, which the PM had agreed to in the meeting with Layton.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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