Government Moves To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 150 Megatonnes By 2020.

April 26, 2007

Today Conservative MP Mark Warawa joined the Conservative Minister of the Environment in presenting Turning the Corner – an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

“The Turning the Corner action plan is a realistic balance to preserve a healthy environment and a healthy economy,” says Warawa, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment.

For the first time ever, the federal government will force industry to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution. “We will take immediate action by implementing mandatory targets on industry, so that greenhouse gases begin to come down,” says the Langley MP. “Canada needs to do a U-Turn, because we are going in the wrong direction. Since the Liberals promised to reduce greenhouse gases in 1997, they have only gone up.”

Under the previous government, greenhouse gas emissions rose each year for 13 years. With the new action plan, in the next 3-5 years, greenhouse gases will stop increasing. By 2020 they will be down by 150 megatonnes.  “We will turn things around by strictly mandating that industry gets more and more efficient every year, so that greenhouse gases go down even as the economy grows,” says Warawa. “We will impose mandatory targets on industry so that air pollution from industry is more than cut in half by 2015.”

“This Government is serious about tackling climate change and protecting the air we breathe for Canadians today and tomorrow. Our plan is real, it begins immediately, and will lead to concrete results, with challenging, but realistic targets for industry.”

“I have worked for the past two years on environmental issues on behalf of Canadians, and I am proud of the deliberate, workable and productive steps which are currently being undertaken in order to produce real results on our global environment, especially our air quality,” says Warawa.

The Government is committed to delivering real results for all Canadians and helping make this country a world-leader on the environment.