The Neverending Tory

Canada's leaders bring back green program, announce rainforest fund

When Canada's Conservative Party took power a year ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put a variety of environmental programs on hold -- only to find out that, oops, his constituents actually want a livable earth. Under pressure from citizens Canuck, Harper's cabinet is hyping green initiatives both new and recycled. The Tories have pledged to put $25 million USD toward conservation of British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, which will be combined with $25 million from the province and $51 million raised by green groups; the cabinet will also invest $1.3 billion USD in renewable energy over the next decade. That same cabinet once scrapped a Liberal plan to put $780 million USD into wind power over 15 years -- weird, eh? "They don't have shoulders big enough to admit when they made a mistake and don't have the candor to simply say to Canadians: 'We were wrong on this issue,'" says Liberal environment spokesperson David McGuinty. And you know what they say about big shoulders.