An environmental group on Friday gave the Harper government a series of failing grades on its approach to the environment in general, and climate change in particular.

"Although Mr. Harper has been prime minister less than six months, the slide in marks is clear and worrying," the Sierra Club of Canada said in its 14th annual Report on International Obligations.

A button seen during a protest coinciding with a UN climate change conference in Montreal last year.
(Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)

The group said the previous Liberal government had made "limited progress" on addressing environmental issues. But since the Conservatives' election win on Jan. 23, the new government's performance has been "dismal," it said.

"The biggest slide was in the subject of climate change," the report said, slamming the government's lack of commitment for the 1998 Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world.

"We are recommending that the Harper government attend summer school in order to see improvement next time," said Stephen Hazell, the acting executive director of the Sierra Club.

Provincial efforts praised

At the same time, however, the Sierra Club praised efforts at the provincial level in Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador to implement climate change programs.
 
In particular, the group praised the "gold star" agenda in Quebec.

On Thursday the province's Liberal government unveiled a plan to cut Quebec's greenhouse gas emissions to levels just short of the Kyoto targets.

The Quebec plan aims to reduce greenhouse gases in the province by 10 million tonnes a year by 2012.

The Sierra report comes on the same day MPs in Ottawa began second reading of a private member's bill which, if it were to eventually clear all hurdles and become law, could compel the Harper government to adopt many of the targets of the Kyoto Protocol.

Private member's bill could force compliance

Sponsored by Quebec Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the bill would require the minority Conservative government to draft a climate change plan within 60 days and live up to the Kyoto targets set by the previous Liberal government.

''We have to take our responsibilities," Rodriguez told CBC News. "If the government doesn't want to do it, we'll try to force them to do it."

Part of the Conservative platform during last winter's federal election campaign was to break the commitment to Kyoto and come up with a made-in-Canada approach to reducing the emissions blamed for global warming.

Rodriguez's bill, which was introduced in May, has the backing of both the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.

"Eighty per cent of the population in Quebec support the Kyoto Protocol," Bloc MP Bernard Bigras told CBC News.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has rejected the opposition move, which she says has been put forward "for very political reasons."

Defends record

"Let's be clear: We are in the Kyoto Protocol and working with our UN partners to find a way for Canada to implement a plan," Ambrose said.

Private member's bills rarely get through Parliament when there is a majority government.

However, political observers say, Rodriguez's bill has a chance of passing because of the Harper government's minority situation —and because all the opposition parties are lined up behind the legislation.

The second reading of the bill began on Friday, but debate did not finish in time and the matter has now been put off until after MPs return in September from their summer recess.

If Rodriguez's bill does pass, it would still have to go a government committee for discussion and possible amendments. After that, it would face third and final reading before passage in the House of Commons. Then it would go to the Liberal-dominated Senate before royal assent.