Back in June, when the Conservative government started to show signs of trying to cover up climate-change inaction with a plan to reduce smog, I wrote:

I don't want to support the shirking of our climate change responsibilities. But in the world of realistic outcomes, forcing the Conservatives to get serious results on issues like smog is a lot better than letting them shirk Kyoto and also pay mere lip service to other issues.

I figured that if they were going to play this game the least we should get out of this deal is actual action on the smog file. Well, it looks like we aren't going to. (I suppose I should have know these guys wouldn't be serious about commiting to the environment, but I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.)

The Conservatives made a Liberal-style big announcement of nothing yesterday in Vancouver. But it was merely an announcement that some discussions will begin which may ultimately lead to some targets being set. As John Ibbitson writes in a critical column today:

And so the Clean Air Act, if and when it clears Parliament, will substantially preserve the existing voluntary Liberal measures, while promising a much stricter regime once the Liberal plan expires in 2010 -- which, at the rate things are going, could be three elections from now. Meantime, the government will consult.

In other words, nothing resembling the bill's claimed goals is going to happen under this government. Some Conservatives may argue that "the Liberals didn't do anything but spew hot air either", but that's not a very inspiring excuse.

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