Harper not afraid to bring down government over Kyoto provision   
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 6:00 p.m. March 24, 2005]

OTTAWA  — Just when the Liberals thought the coast was clear and it was safe to vote in the House of Commons, the longevity of the government was put in doubt on Thursday.  

A little more than two weeks after the Liberal government dodged death on three votes of confidence on the federal budget, all opposition party leaders said Thursday they were prepared to vote against the Prime Minister Paul Martin and his minority government's budget implementation bill. 

A defeat of the budget implementation bill would likely be a matter of confidence and would trigger a federal election.

The original budget bill passed earlier this month by a vote of 132 to 73 after the Conservatives abstained from voting in the House of Commons. Both the Bloc and the NDP voted against the bill. 

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was widely criticized by some for his strategy, but Harper said at the time he did not believe it was in the national interest to have the government fall on a vote of confidence because of the budget. 

But on Thursday Harper was singing a different tune after the Liberals tabled the budget implementation bill, which he said includes a new environmental regulation that gives Ottawa "undefined and dangerous powers."

The bill contains a new provision that would allow the federal government to force companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of its commitment to meet targets under the Kyoto protocol.

"This is an attempt by the government to get unlimited power to declare any element of the Kyoto plan to affect any industry, to impose multi-million dollar fines on any basis without any parliamentary approval or discussion whatsoever. And it is completely unacceptable," said Harper after question period.

Harper's party is opposed to Canadian participation in Kyoto. 

"This particular provision wasn't even the budget, yet they tried to slip it into the budget implementation act."

Harper said the ball is in the prime minister's court if he wants to make the implementation bill a matter of confidence. 

"He'll have to decide whether this or any particular element of the budget is worth calling an election over."

Harper, who received 84 per cent support from Conservative delegates at his party's policy convention on the weekend, expressed no fears about the government falling and Canadians going to the polls less than a year after the last federal election. 

"The party's ready for an election at any time," he said bluntly.

Government House Leader Tony Valeri said earlier in the day "the budget implementation bill is a confidence bill."

"I would expect Mr. Harper to remain consistent in his position. He said he did not want to defeat the government in the budget because he didn't believe Canadians wanted an election," Valeri said after the cabinet meeting. 

"And I believe if he's going to be consistent that he would not look to defeat the government on the budget implementation bill."

The Conservatives would not be alone in opposing the bill, as both NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe - whose parties support Kyoto -- said they plan to vote against it  but for different reasons than Harper. 

"We'll vote against it," Duceppe said. 

The Bloc's opposition is not based on the new Kyoto provision, but rather because the budget does not address the party's main issues - the fiscal imbalance and the reforming the Employment Insurance program. 

"I'm ready to have an election any time if this is what they want," said Duceppe, who has never expressed any reservations about returning to the campaign trail since the minority Parliament began sitting in October. 

Layton also said he could not vote for the bill as it currently stands.

"We're going to vote against what's been put on the table - no question about it," he said.  

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