Tories aim to gut environmental rules, NDP says

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA — The NDP says it has obtained a copy of a government memo that suggests the Conservatives want to gut the federal role in environmental-impact assessments.

The leaked e-mail from a federal bureaucrat suggests the Tories could kill the assessment process for any project worth less than $10-million, or for any project where a provincial government is already performing that role.

The e-mail, distributed to the media with the sender's name blacked out, says the measures would help speed up the pace of construction projects at a time of global economic standstill.

Ottawa has already committed $33-billion for infrastructure spending over seven years, with the possibility of more in a stimulus package to be released in next week's federal budget.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090122.wPOLenvi0122/BNStory/politics/home

So money trumps everything. Or real politics?

Ignatieff touts Alberta tar sands

MONTREAL–Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff brought a pragmatic message to this environmentally conscious province yesterday, defending Alberta in the name of national unity.

Keenly aware that his greatest future electoral opportunity is in Quebec, and his greatest challenge in Alberta, Ignatieff essentially told Quebecers they needed to get with the program when it comes to the Alberta tar sands.

"The stupidest thing you can do (is) to run against an industry that is providing employment for hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and not just in Alberta, but right across the country," Ignatieff told an audience largely of business graduate students at HEC Montreal, a management school affiliated with the University of Montreal.

Aware that the tar sands, one of the biggest oil deposits in the world, and also one of the dirtiest, is a controversial subject in Quebec, Ignatieff told the audience that "all questions of energy policy are a question of national unity."

http://www.thestar.com/article/575269

Looks like the writing is on the wall.

Election over budget unlikely, Ignatieff says

OTTAWA– Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday that the country needs an election over next week's budget "like a hole in the head" – the latest sign that he will keep the minority Conservative government in power.

If the opposition Liberals vote against the Jan 27 budget, the government will almost certainly be defeated. That could trigger an election at the end of February or the start of March.

"We need an election in February like a hole in the head. It is not the preferred choice of Canadians. We're in a recession (and) Canadians all know that an election is expensive," Ignatieff told a televised news conference in Montreal.

Ignatieff told Reuters Tuesday that he was quite prepared to vote against the budget if he felt it could not tackle the growing effects of the financial crisis. He also said he was trying to calm political tempers.

http://www.thestar.com/article/574764

So it appears that the lines in the sand have been drawn.

So looks like it's the "Shock Doctrine" all over again. Naomi, where are you?