Chris's Posts

Provincial Liberals Setting Up Harper Government as “Scapegoat”: Charlton

OTTAWA – Hamiltonians will be left with nothing more than another empty promise from the McGuinty Liberals unless the federal government commits $5.8 billion in transit funding to Ontario, Hamilton Mountain MP Chris Charlton said in the House of Commons today.

Last week, Premier McGuinty announced a 12-year provincial transit plan that would enhance public transit in Hamilton, but that is contingent on federal funding support.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 124
CONTENTS
Thursday, March 20, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

I am delighted to participate in the debate on the Budget this afternoon, both as the NDP critic for seniors and pensions, and more importantly as the Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, this fall the Auditor General slammed the previous Liberal government for its failure to make progress on meeting Kyoto targets. The Conservatives then introduced their so-called clean air act, which, quite frankly, stinks.

Now the verdict from the UN climate change conference in Nairobi is in. Canada was embarrassed by placing second last in a comparison of national government policies to reduce greenhouse gas pollution in 56 industrialized countries.

The Conservative Budget, and the Budget Implementation Bill that is before this House today, do absolutely nothing to address the profound environmental challenges that confront Canadians today. The silence is absolutely deafening. When it comes to climate change, we have essentially lost yet another year on this most critical issue. It is showing up on the pages of Maclean’s, the front pages of The New York Times, and across our communities. But it is not showing up in the Budget.