OTTAWA—Dr. James Lunney, MP for Nanaimo-Alberni, responded today to reports that federal Liberal Environment Minister Stephane Dion admitted that Kyoto would be an ideal way to transfer public money to foreign countries. “The Conservative Party has been saying for some time that Kyoto is more about wealth redistribution than the environment, and the Environment Minister has finally seen fit to admit it,” said Lunney.

Mr. Dion, speaking to students at Carleton University in Ottawa, stated that Kyoto provided an opportunity to boost the fortunes of developing nations. He said that Canada could go into countries like Mexico and Brazil to improve their situations, buying ‘green credits’ to reach Kyoto targets. “This government has spent 8 years and almost $4 billion dollars on pushing the idea of Kyoto on Canadians, and our CO2 emissions have gone up,” said Lunney. “There has been no plan, and because we have not made progress, meeting target commitments will only cost Canadian families more.”

Lunney said the Conservative Party would focus on a made-in-Canada solution for the environment and work to reduce smog and harmful particulate matter in the air. They would also provide incentives to develop alternative, renewable energy sources, where Canada could be a world leader. “Canada has the science, the expertise and a hard-working population,” Lunney said. “We should have a great environmental record, but unfortunately the OECD ranks Canada among the last of 24 countries on environmental stewardship. That has to change.”

“While the Liberals push Canadian wealth offshore under Kyoto, regular Canadians live with water-boil warnings, thousands of contaminated sites and cities that still dump raw sewage into the ocean. Canadians deserve environmental policies that protect our own natural heritage, rather than a plan to redistribute wealth to developing countries under the guise of an environmental initiative,” concluded Lunney.