Prime Minister Harper, Heed Mulroney's Advice on the Environment

In a recent interview with the CBC, Brian Mulroney stated that it is important that the Conservative Party of Canada strengthen its Clean Air Act in order to court middle class voters. I couldn't agree with Mr. Mulroney more.

I know that I, a supporter of the Conservatives, felt extremely disappointed with the Harper Government's highly touted Clean Air Act. I feel that it failed to recognize the pressing nature of climate change. Indeed, action needs to come soon to address this potentially disastrous threat to our world and Canada can't be sitting on the sidelines.

However, I was not only disappointed by the Conservatives' failure to really take bold steps in addressing this issue, but also that they seemingly missed the boat on an opportunity to capture voters that might sit somewhere in the middle ideologically and realize the importance of environmental concern. To me, this is a large portion of the voting public, particularly among young Canadians, and could just represent the voters needed to form a majority after the next election.

With the election of Stephane Dion as the leader of the Liberal Party, the candidate who perhaps placed the most emphasis on the environment in his bid for the leadership, the time for the Conservatives to act is even more vital. After all, despite Dion's rhetoric, he was the most recent Minister of the Environment under the Liberal regime, a government that, in true Liberal fashion, dithered and failed to take any substantial action to address environmental issues. It is a sham that the Liberals present themselves as more environmentally friendly than the Conservatives, but Harper and Co. must devote adequate energy to proving this to Canadians and, through action, demonstrate that they are THE choice if voters want action taken on this issue.