Nairobi, Kenya - Canada has once again been embarrassed on the international stage by Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, according to NDP Environment Critic Nathan Cullen.

"She travelled many thousands of miles to deliver a speech that contains many things that simply are not true,'' said Cullen. “We knew the Liberal record was bad; to say the Conservatives are going to make it better is simply untrue.''

Cullen went through Ambrose’s November 15 speech and pointed out many glaring errors and half-truths including:

• She held up the Conservatives’ so-called “Clean Air Act” as an example of action that her government is taking on greenhouse gases
• The truth: The Clean Air Act was dead in the water with all opposition parties planning to vote against it until Jack Layton proposed a way to rewrite it to make it a piece of legislation with real teeth.
  
  
• She said the Conservative plan has short, medium and long-term emission reduction targets.
• The truth: The only target is in 2050 and it is below a 2003 benchmark, rather than the 1990 one that the rest of the world is using.  That means her target for 2050 is in fact around 55% reductions below 1990 levels, not 65 as she reported to the conference and certainly not aggressive enough to prevent dangerous increases in the earth’s surface air temperature.
  
  
• She recognized that our greenhouse gases come primarily from the transportation and energy sectors.
• The truth: The Conservative “bus pass” tax rebate has been proven to be one of the most expensive and least effective means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Her plan does nothing to reduce emissions from the worst polluter – the oil and gas industry.  In fact, because it talks of “emissions intensity”, it allows for pollution to get worse.  Through continued subsidies, the Canadian government is actually paying to allow this to happen.
  
  
• She said that Canada recognizes the early action of the provinces and territories.
• The truth: The Conservative government has done nothing to recognize the early actions of Quebec, a province that has proven that meeting and exceeding Canada’s Kyoto targets is achievable.
  
  
• And the biggest lie of all: Ambrose claimed that her “. . . government has the will and the leadership to share these ideas and experiences with the world.”
• The truth: If Stephen Harper and his Conservatives truly had the will to address global warming in Canada, all the tools are there for him to do so. 

“Minister Ambrose was worried about the Opposition critics and Canadian environmentalists creating mischief at this conference,” Cullen said.  “In fact, it is she who has attempted to divert the wide-spread criticism of her government’s failure to live up to our obligations by bringing domestic partisan politics to the international stage.

“Canada has seldom been so embarrassed by an official of her stature.”