LAVAL, Que. – Concerns raised this week by U.S. President Barack Obama regarding the oilsands need to be addressed with federal action to protect the environment and not to boost the industry’s image, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Thursday.
“It’s not going to be fixed by better public relations,” Ignatieff said after touring a seniors home in this suburb north of Montreal. “It’s a problem of substance.”
Obama hinted Wednesday that his government might be having second thoughts about approving a controversial 3,200 pipeline project linking the oilsands to the American market.
“These tarsands, there are some environmental questions about how destructive they are, potentially, what are the dangers there, and we’ve got to examine all those questions,” Obama said.
Ignatieff acknowledged that the industry is producing too much carbon dioxide emissions, using too much water and getting too many tax breaks.
But he said the Liberal party is proposing to address all of these issues by removing tax breaks, providing incentives for the industry to invest in technology to reduce their pollution and regulating in areas where the federal government has a clear responsibility.
“(We should) get the federal government back into the business of regulating watershed use, wildlife, the things that are in our wheelhouse, in our jurisdiction,” he said. “In other words, address the substance.
Internal federal documents and emails released last fall revealed that several government departments were working closely with industry on a communications strategy to boost the image of oilsands companies and fight against foreign regulations on climate change that would force the industry to improve its environmental protection efforts and performance.
Ignatieff said that Conservative leader Stephen Harper and four different environment ministers have been claiming for five years that the issue is a public relations problem.
“We have a environment problem here and it needs to be addressed and the only government that will address it is a Liberal government.”
mdesouza@postmedia.com
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