February 15, 2007

A Bunch of Hot Air

Chris Jones (email) at 12:44 PM

So bill C-288, the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act passed third reading yesterday, bound for the Senate where it'll get quick passage. The commentariat seems to be saying that the Harper government is up for a massive constitutional battle if it tries to ignore C-288 once it becomes law. Fair enough. But PM Steve-o's smarter than that --- he's got a few really neat options available....

The procedural option: deny or delay Royal Assent. What everyone seems to forget is that laws don't just need to pass the House and Senate --- they also need the consent of the third part of Parliament, and that's the Queen (as represented by the Governor-General or her delegates). Royal Assent, while generally a formality, is by no means automatic: if Steve-o says "Hey, my advice to you, GG, is that you not provide assent", the Governor-General by constitutional convention can't approve it, the bill's dead in the water, it isn't law, and there aren't any legal problems associated with ignoring it. Of course, this lets the opposition make hay about "abusing" our constitutional process.

The strategic option: pass it, and comply. Come up with the compliance plans, with hard numbers on what it'll cost and draft legislation setting out what'll be needed in order to comply. Include all the details about what the provinces will need to do for this régime to be effective.

And then say to the Canadian public, Hey, look at what they're forcing you to do. The Liberals want you to lose your jobs. They want you to be impoverished --- and still not do anything about global warming. They want to distract from Canada's real environmental concerns.". And then you call an election.

My money's on option 2.

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