Conservative win will affect climate policy

May 13, 2011 – Canada's
Conservative Party won a parliamentary majority in the early May election,
giving Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper his first majority government
since gaining the post in early 2006. The Conservatives won 167 seats in
Canada's 308-member House of Commons, but only received 39.6% of the overall
popular vote. The Liberal Party lost its main opposition party status to the
New Democratic Party (NDP) and fell to its smallest share of parliamentary
seats in party history. The NDP has 102 ministers in the House of Commons.
There are 34 Liberal members, four from the Bloc Quebecois, and the Green party
won its first seat since the party's inception in 1983.

The Conservative platform had included
support for cap-and-trade in the prior election campaign in 2008, but the
current platform only mirrors the United States’ goal of reducing greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. The Conservatives also
pledge to support clean energy projects, and say the government will consider
GHG emission reductions when determining whether to support a proposed energy
project. In November, the Conservative-dominated Senate voted down a
cap-and-trade bill that had passed the House of Commons.

The NDP's platform included a cap-and-trade
program with a target of cutting GHG emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by
2050. The NDP estimated that C$3.6 billion could be raised in fiscal 2012 by
auctioning emissions allowances with a price floor of C$45/tonne. The party
said it would use that money for renewable energy incentives, energy efficiency
loans, green technology development, and worker retraining programs.

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