Congratulations To The New MPs

Well earned congratulations go to all three winners of yesterday's federal election: the Harper Conservatives, who got their majority and may now succeed the Liberals as Canada's "natural governing party"; the Layton NDP, who became the Official Opposition with a chance at government some day; and Elizabeth May, who won the Green Party's first elected seat in Parliament.

What will all this mean for the environment? On most day to day environmental issues of air, water and waste, the federal government plays a limited role, behind the provinces and the municipalities. The major national and international environmental issue is climate change, widely described as Stephen Harper's least favourite topic, despite wilder weather and water stress. That thorn in the government side, the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, may now be repealed or gutted. Instead of a national cap and trade or carbon tax, we will likely see expensive hopes for ethanol and for carbon