Environment top priority, PM says

In a year-end interview, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today that the environment is now among his top priorities and signalled that he will make major improvements to the much-maligned clean air plan he tabled this fall.

Harper cited a host of factors when asked in an interview with The Canadian Press why his plan had come under such heavy criticism.
“We have to point out why the environment is a priority for the public,” he said in French.
“Because there are no more scandals, there are no more threats against national unity, there is no longer a government that never acts, there is a strong economy.
“Things are going well for Canada and for Quebec. It’s not the same for the environment.”
Polls have consistently shown that Canadians believe the Conservatives have mishandled the environment file. Harper came to office suggesting that the Kyoto Protocol, which limits greenhouse gases that cause global warming, would be essentially ignored.