Of no surprise to anyone, it is now being reported that Canada’s environmental inspector has found that much of the federal governments plan to save the planet from global warming was nothing more than lip service paid to the Canadian public.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration has rationed billions of taxpayers’ dollars for environmental initiatives. All of which promise to reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 megatonnes, which is roughly 10% nationally.

However, Environment commissioner Scott Vaughn has given our fearless leader and his cronies less than favourable marks in a failing-grade report card released on February 5th.

Vaughn states that the feds “conducted almost no analysis to support that figure and did not perform key types of analysis. The little analysis it did undertake is based on flawed assumptions.

As a result, taxpayers’ money is left blowing in the proverbial winds.

Vaughn also made note of the $635-million transit pass program. Launched by the Harper government in the 2006 budget, the scheme provides riders with a tax rebate equal to 15% of the cost of their monthly passes.

Initially, the government proclaimed “the tax credit makes public transit more affordable for Canadians and provides clean air in our communities.”

Unfortunately, this proved to be much less the case.

When the master plan was unveiled with the 2006 budget, the federal finance department estimated that the transit pass rebate would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 100, 000 tonnes a year. Yet, the federal environment department went ever further with a bold prediction of 220, 000 tonnes a year, more than twice the amount.

That same department, last year, lowered its overachieving estimate to just 35, 000 tonnes.

It’s seems pretty clear that they knew something was up at that time.

With the lowered levels, Vaughn states that taxpayers will be out hundreds of millions of dollars for an environmental initiative that will have a “negligible impact of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

How does something like this happen? Something so weighted and crucial to the progression of the planet and those of us who inhabit it.

In a report commissioned by the finance department prior to the 2006 budget, an alternative proposal to use federal money to reduce public transit fares for everyone was dismissed. Instead, they opted to go with the transit pass tax credit, which at the time was estimated to cost taxpayers between $2,000 and $3, 000 per tonne of greenhouse gas eliminated.

Today, the total cost is closer to $10, 000 a tonne.

However, citizens shouldn’t fear any wrong doing, because Vaughn stated that the environment department is promising a more diligent monitoring system of the impact the bus pass program has on air quality, once they figure out how to do that.

“The government cannot demonstrate the money it is spending on some important environmental programs is making a difference,” Vaughn says.

Saving the planet seems to be at the top of everyone’s “To Do List,” and it’s good to see the federal government making promises to do their part, but as we’ve all known since we were young, it’s important to keep promises.

It’s well and fine to institute a plan to combat greenhouse emissions; too bad they can’t prove it’s doing any good.

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Tags: Auditor General, Environment, Federal Government, Finance department, global warming, greenhouse gas, stephen harper

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.