I’m glad that the federal NDP site is now being updated on a daily basis with usually a few press releases a day. Today I read this one. It’s about the NDP’s ideas for the solar industry.

It got me thinking though. Why not put in a plan so that every new federal government building is equipped with solar panels? The plan could also be extended to allow a fund for renovations to government buildings to equip them with solar panels. This would save taxpayers a lot of money in energy costs in the long run. Also homeowners can sell excess energy from solar powers to the power company and pump it back into the grid, why not have the federal government do this as well?

This plan also has many other benefits, than just saving money. It would be a step towards helping us meet our Kyoto targets and if provinces take part in a plan like this, it would have a tremendous positive effect on green house gases! Also it would be a huge boost to the solar power industry, which theoretically would cause prices to go down for ordinary consumers who want to help out the environment while saving money on their energy bills each month.

Mark Cooper, a senior official in the office of Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, has announced that word “plan “ is no longer being used and it is being replaced with the word “approach” in regards to the environment. This is really no big secret, everyone has known for months that their was no plan. It’s good to see the Conservatives finally admit it.

Yet, this shouldn’t be taken lightly. In their election platform, the Conservatives promised a comprehensive plan on the environment. Looks like this promise is going onto the same list as reducing wait times in hospitals; a list of broken promises.

It has also been confirmed by Mark Cooper that Ambrose will not be raising the government intentions at the Commons environment committee today. Another sign that the Conservatives do not take the environment seriously.

“We’ve known for month’s there’s no plan,” said Louise Comeau of the Sage Climate Project. “What they’re planning is a series of announcements.”

Well I’ve been following this spotted owl story (link) and another story where Rona Ambrose is being sued (link).

Well it looks like she is being sued again, this time regarding the spotted owl extinction. As I had mentioned before, Rona Ambrose (Minister of the environment) has refused to enact an emergency order un the federal Species at Risk Act. There are only 17 of these owls left in Canada, yet the minister sees “no imminent threat to the survival or recovery of the northern spotted owl at this time”.

This is a shame!

Ambrose, resign now - you are an embarrassment!

As I had previously mentioned, the Conservative government had announced that they were doing major cuts to many housing initiatives.Well it looks like they changed their mind, and they are reversing the cuts.

OTTAWA – NDP Housing Critic Irene Mathyssen applauded the victory for housing groups across Canada today as Minister for Social Development Diane Finley announced that cuts to federal funding for housing through the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) have been reversed and the program’s $37 million rollover from 2005-06 will now be released.

“Minister Finley’s announcement comes as welcome news to housing groups across Canada, but there’s still work to be done,” said Mathyssen. “We need to ensure the funds now promised are delivered on time and put to effective use. With only seven months left to spend the 2006-07 funds, housing groups need their support delivered as soon as possible.”

Earlier this month, housing groups in Toronto and Ottawa were informed that federal funding for housing in their communities would be cut by $5.8 million and $1 million respectively. As well, Service Canada recently sent letters to housing shelters in Winnipeg confirming that it “had not received the full budget allocation [from the Conservative government]” it had been promised and would therefore be cutting housing spending.

“I applaud the hard work of housing advocates and organizations across Canada as well as the municipal officials who helped apply pressure on the Minister. The NDP will continue to serve as the effective opposition to any cuts the Harper government imposes in housing or in other programs that benefit our society’s most vulnerable,” said Mathyssen.

And some people say the NDP is an ineffective opposition. Without the NDP these cuts would not had been reversed. The NDP is effective!

And if you think the Liberals were apart of reversing the cuts. Think again. Joe Fontana was of course speaking words of progressiveness, but does he really mean it? He was slamming the NDP for bringing down the Liberal government.

And the London-North-Centre MP said the NDP must share the blame for bringing down the Liberal government just as it was developing a national housing strategy.

It wasn’t the NDP. It was the voters! The voters got tired of the Liberal’s arrogance, corruption and inaction. Also the NDP hardly called that election. It would have been held weeks later, that is if Paul Martin would keep one of his promises. And the Liberal Government would have not done anything to help fund housing, their record speaks for itself. As you can read here:

A majority Liberal government abolished the world-recognized housing program in the 1990s: “Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will phase out its remaining role in social housing except for housing on Indian reserves.” (Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget in Brief, 6 March 1996, p. 11)

As always, the Liberals are full of words but lack any action. They actually do the opposite of what they say will do. While the NDP says these things too, and accomplishes them even when they are outside of Government.

Previously I posted this.

Now it looks like Rona Ambrose, Canada’s Environment Minister, is facing even more possible legal action. This is regarding logging in the habitats of the spotted owl. Rona Ambrose says the owl “does not currently face imminent threats to its survival or recovery.” So only having seventeen owls left is not a threat to its survival or recovery? Does the number have to be a single digit before it becomes an actual threat in the eyes of Mrs. Ambrose?

So only having seventeen owls left is not a threat to its survival or recovery? Does the number have to be a single digit before it becomes an actual threat in the eyes of Mrs. Ambrose?

The Minister of the Environment is supposed to be taking care of our environment. She obviously has more important interests than the environment and she should resign if she doesn’t make her top priority the environment. I suggest everyone to write a letter about this matter to the Prime Minister and Rona Ambrose. This is an urgent matter and the minister should be protecting the environment and not the people who want to exploit the environment.

She has the power to force the provinces to act (Through the Species At Risk Act), but she isn’t using it. Demand that she uses it or resigns.

The Sierra Legal Defence Fund had asked federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose to use the legislation to override the provincial government, and to stop logging in the owl’s habitat in the the southwest corner of the province.
However, Ambrose wrote a letter to the group rejecting that course of action, saying the owl “does not currently face imminent threats to its survival or recovery.”
Sierra Legal Defence spokesman Devon Page says he is disappointed but not surprised at the minister’s decision.
“They never entrench on provincial jurisdiction. And we’ve had laws in Canada for over 35 years that have empowered the federal government to act in the provinces to protect the environment, and not once have they ever been applied.”
He adds that with only 17 spotted owls left, time is running out. Ten years ago, there were 100 breeding pairs, and there is concern that the birds will be extinct by 2010 if logging in their habitats isn’t stopped.