Don't Vote Conservative if you care about the environment

"If you care for the environment and want action on global warming, don't vote Conservative," said Bruce Cox, executive director of Greenpeace Canada, at a news conference on Parliament Hill.

The organizations base their position on the Conservatives' environmental record in government, and their failure to commit to a minimum 25 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The Bloc Québécois, Green Party, Liberal Party and NDP have all signed on to the targets identified by the KYOTOplus campaign to strengthen and extend the Kyoto Protocol.

The Conservatives have been widely criticized around the world for their focus on reducing greenhouse gases through intensity-based targets. And at last year's United Nations climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, the Canadian delegation's attempts to block an international consensus on global warming isolated Canada and nearly derailed the talks.

"This election represents a critical turning point," said Stephen Hazell, executive director of Sierra Club Canada. "While the Conservative government has failed to show leadership on climate change all other parties agree that deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are necessary, and that the pricing of these emissions is essential if these reductions are to be achieved."

Cox says the Conservatives are choosing to ignore the best available scientific evidence: "When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 25 per cent by 2020, and the Conservatives offer a plan at three per cent reductions, there can be no doubt that they are being wilfully ignorant of the facts."

Next year, the world will gather in Copenhagen to decide what a post-Kyoto climate treaty will look like. The UN climate change conference is widely anticipated to be a historic watershed in the fight against global warming.

"If the Conservatives are re-elected, Canadians must expect that we will lag the rest of the world—even the United States—in meeting our commitments to fight climate change," said Hazell.

Greenpeace and Sierra Club Canada are urging voters not to vote Conservative in this election, and instead to vote for parties that are willing to take action on climate change. They released the responses to a joint questionnaire on the environment sent to all political parties to assist voters in their choice. The Conservatives did not provide any response.